282 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
282 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
(note: this is a temporary file, to be added-to by anybody, and moved to
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release-notes at release time)
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Notable changes
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===============
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SSL support for RPC dropped
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----------------------------
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SSL support for RPC, previously enabled by the option `rpcssl` has been dropped
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from both the client and the server. This was done in preparation for removing
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the dependency on OpenSSL for the daemon completely.
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Trying to use `rpcssl` will result in an error:
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Error: SSL mode for RPC (-rpcssl) is no longer supported.
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If you are one of the few people that relies on this feature, a flexible
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migration path is to use `stunnel`. This is an utility that can tunnel
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arbitrary TCP connections inside SSL. On e.g. Ubuntu it can be installed with:
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sudo apt-get install stunnel4
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Then, to tunnel a SSL connection on 28332 to a RPC server bound on localhost on port 18332 do:
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stunnel -d 28332 -r 127.0.0.1:18332 -p stunnel.pem -P ''
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It can also be set up system-wide in inetd style.
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Another way to re-attain SSL would be to setup a httpd reverse proxy. This solution
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would allow the use of different authentication, loadbalancing, on-the-fly compression and
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caching. A sample config for apache2 could look like:
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Listen 443
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NameVirtualHost *:443
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<VirtualHost *:443>
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SSLEngine On
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SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/server.crt
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SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/server.key
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<Location /bitcoinrpc>
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ProxyPass http://127.0.0.1:8332/
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ProxyPassReverse http://127.0.0.1:8332/
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# optional enable digest auth
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# AuthType Digest
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# ...
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# optional bypass bitcoind rpc basic auth
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# RequestHeader set Authorization "Basic <hash>"
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# get the <hash> from the shell with: base64 <<< bitcoinrpc:<password>
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</Location>
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# Or, balance the load:
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# ProxyPass / balancer://balancer_cluster_name
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</VirtualHost>
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Random-cookie RPC authentication
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---------------------------------
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When no `-rpcpassword` is specified, the daemon now uses a special 'cookie'
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file for authentication. This file is generated with random content when the
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daemon starts, and deleted when it exits. Its contents are used as
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authentication token. Read access to this file controls who can access through
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RPC. By default it is stored in the data directory but its location can be
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overridden with the option `-rpccookiefile`.
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This is similar to Tor's CookieAuthentication: see
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https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-manual.html.en
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This allows running bitcoind without having to do any manual configuration.
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Low-level RPC API changes
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--------------------------
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- Monetary amounts can be provided as strings. This means that for example the
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argument to sendtoaddress can be "0.0001" instead of 0.0001. This can be an
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advantage if a JSON library insists on using a lossy floating point type for
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numbers, which would be dangerous for monetary amounts.
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Option parsing behavior
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-----------------------
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Command line options are now parsed strictly in the order in which they are
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specified. It used to be the case that `-X -noX` ends up, unintuitively, with X
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set, as `-X` had precedence over `-noX`. This is no longer the case. Like for
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other software, the last specified value for an option will hold.
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`NODE_BLOOM` service bit
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------------------------
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Support for the `NODE_BLOOM` service bit, as described in [BIP
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111](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0111.mediawiki), has been
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added to the P2P protocol code.
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BIP 111 defines a service bit to allow peers to advertise that they support
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bloom filters (such as used by SPV clients) explicitly. It also bumps the protocol
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version to allow peers to identify old nodes which allow bloom filtering of the
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connection despite lacking the new service bit.
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In this version, it is only enforced for peers that send protocol versions
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`>=70011`. For the next major version it is planned that this restriction will be
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removed. It is recommended to update SPV clients to check for the `NODE_BLOOM`
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service bit for nodes that report versions newer than 70011.
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Any sequence of pushdatas in OP_RETURN outputs now allowed
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----------------------------------------------------------
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Previously OP_RETURN outputs with a payload were only relayed and mined if they
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had a single pushdata. This restriction has been lifted to allow any
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combination of data pushes and numeric constant opcodes (OP_1 to OP_16). The
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limit on OP_RETURN output size is now applied to the entire serialized
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scriptPubKey, 83 bytes by default. (the previous 80 byte default plus three
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bytes overhead)
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Merkle branches removed from wallet
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-----------------------------------
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Previously, every wallet transaction stored a Merkle branch to prove its
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presence in blocks. This wasn't being used for more than an expensive
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sanity check. Since 0.12, these are no longer stored. When loading a
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0.12 wallet into an older version, it will automatically rescan to avoid
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failed checks.
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BIP65 - CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY
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---------------------------
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Previously it was impossible to create a transaction output that was guaranteed
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to be unspendable until a specific date in the future. CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY is a
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new opcode that allows a script to check if a specific block height or time has
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been reached, failing the script otherwise. This enables a wide variety of new
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functionality such as time-locked escrows, secure payment channels, etc.
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BIP65 implements CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY by introducing block version 4, which adds
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additional restrictions to the NOP2 opcode. The same miner-voting mechanism as
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in BIP34 and BIP66 is used: when 751 out of a sequence of 1001 blocks have
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version number 4 or higher, the new consensus rule becomes active for those
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blocks. When 951 out of a sequence of 1001 blocks have version number 4 or
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higher, it becomes mandatory for all blocks and blocks with versions less than
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4 are rejected.
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Bitcoin Core's block templates are now for version 4 blocks only, and any
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mining software relying on its `getblocktemplate` must be updated in parallel
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to use either libblkmaker version 0.4.3 or any version from 0.5.2 onward. If
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you are solo mining, this will affect you the moment you upgrade Bitcoin Core,
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which must be done prior to BIP65 achieving its 951/1001 status. If you are
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mining with the stratum mining protocol: this does not affect you. If you are
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mining with the getblocktemplate protocol to a pool: this will affect you at
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the pool operator's discretion, which must be no later than BIP65 achieving its
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951/1001 status.
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Automatically use Tor hidden services
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-------------------------------------
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Starting with Tor version 0.2.7.1 it is possible, through Tor's control socket
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API, to create and destroy 'ephemeral' hidden services programmatically.
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Bitcoin Core has been updated to make use of this.
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This means that if Tor is running (and proper authorization is available),
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Bitcoin Core automatically creates a hidden service to listen on, without
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manual configuration. Bitcoin Core will also use Tor automatically to connect
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to other .onion nodes if the control socket can be successfully opened. This
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will positively affect the number of available .onion nodes and their usage.
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This new feature is enabled by default if Bitcoin Core is listening, and
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a connection to Tor can be made. It can be configured with the `-listenonion`,
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`-torcontrol` and `-torpassword` settings. To show verbose debugging
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information, pass `-debug=tor`.
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Reduce upload traffic
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---------------------
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A major part of the outbound traffic is caused by serving historic blocks to
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other nodes in initial block download state.
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It is now possible to reduce the total upload traffic via the `-maxuploadtarget`
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parameter. This is *not* a hard limit but a threshold to minimize the outbound
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traffic. When the limit is about to be reached, the uploaded data is cut by not
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serving historic blocks (blocks older than one week).
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Moreover, any SPV peer is disconnected when they request a filtered block.
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This option can be specified in MiB per day and is turned off by default
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(`-maxuploadtarget=0`).
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The recommended minimum is 144 * MAX_BLOCK_SIZE (currently 144MB) per day.
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Whitelisted peers will never be disconnected, although their traffic counts for
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calculating the target.
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A more detailed documentation about keeping traffic low can be found in
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[/doc/reducetraffic.md](/doc/reducetraffic.md).
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Signature validation using libsecp256k1
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---------------------------------------
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ECDSA signatures inside Bitcoin transactions now use validation using
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[https://github.com/bitcoin/secp256k1](libsecp256k1) instead of OpenSSL.
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Depending on the platform, this means a significant speedup for raw signature
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validation speed. The advantage is largest on x86_64, where validation is over
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five times faster. In practice, this translates to a raw reindexing and new
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block validation times that are less than half of what it was before.
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Libsecp256k1 has undergone very extensive testing and validation.
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A side effect of this change is that libconsensus no longer depends on OpenSSL.
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Direct headers announcement (BIP 130)
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-------------------------------------
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Between compatible peers, BIP 130 direct headers announcement is used. This
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means that blocks are advertized by announcing their headers directly, instead
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of just announcing the hash. In a reorganization, all new headers are sent,
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instead of just the new tip. This can often prevent an extra roundtrip before
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the actual block is downloaded.
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0.12.0 Change log
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=================
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Detailed release notes follow. This overview includes changes that affect
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behavior, not code moves, refactors and string updates. For convenience in locating
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the code changes and accompanying discussion, both the pull request and
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git merge commit are mentioned.
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### RPC and REST
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Asm representations of scriptSig signatures now contain SIGHASH type decodes
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The `asm` property of each scriptSig now contains the decoded signature hash
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type for each signature that provides a valid defined hash type.
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The following items contain assembly representations of scriptSig signatures
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and are affected by this change:
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- RPC `getrawtransaction`
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- RPC `decoderawtransaction`
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- REST `/rest/tx/` (JSON format)
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- REST `/rest/block/` (JSON format when including extended tx details)
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- `bitcoin-tx -json`
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For example, the `scriptSig.asm` property of a transaction input that
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previously showed an assembly representation of:
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304502207fa7a6d1e0ee81132a269ad84e68d695483745cde8b541e3bf630749894e342a022100c1f7ab20e13e22fb95281a870f3dcf38d782e53023ee313d741ad0cfbc0c509001
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now shows as:
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304502207fa7a6d1e0ee81132a269ad84e68d695483745cde8b541e3bf630749894e342a022100c1f7ab20e13e22fb95281a870f3dcf38d782e53023ee313d741ad0cfbc0c5090[ALL]
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Note that the output of the RPC `decodescript` did not change because it is
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configured specifically to process scriptPubKey and not scriptSig scripts.
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### Configuration and command-line options
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### Block and transaction handling
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### P2P protocol and network code
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### Validation
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### Build system
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### Wallet
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### GUI
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### Tests
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### Miscellaneous
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- Removed bitrpc.py from contrib
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Addition of ZMQ-based Notifications
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==================================
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Bitcoind can now (optionally) asynchronously notify clients through a
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ZMQ-based PUB socket of the arrival of new transactions and blocks.
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This feature requires installation of the ZMQ C API library 4.x and
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configuring its use through the command line or configuration file.
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Please see docs/zmq.md for details of operation.
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