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README.md

Bitcoin 0.8.2 BETA

Setup

Bitcoin-Qt is the original Bitcoin client and it builds the backbone of the network. However, it downloads and stores the entire history of Bitcoin transactions (which is currently several GBs); depending on the speed of your computer and network connection, the synchronization process can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or more. Thankfully you only have to do this once. If you would like the process to go faster you can download the blockchain directly.

Running

The following are some helpful notes on how to run Bitcoin on your native platform.

Unix

You need the Qt4 run-time libraries to run Bitcoin-Qt. On Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install libqtgui4

Unpack the files into a directory and run:

bin/32/bitcoin-qt (GUI, 32-bit) or bin/32/bitcoind (headless, 32-bit)
bin/64/bitcoin-qt (GUI, 64-bit) or bin/64/bitcoind (headless, 64-bit)

Windows

Unpack the files into a directory, and then run bitcoin-qt.exe.

OSX

Drag Bitcoin-Qt to your applications folder, and then run Bitcoin-Qt.

Need Help?

See the documentation at the Bitcoin Wiki for help and more information.
Ask for help on #bitcoin on Freenode. If you don't have an IRC client use webchat here.
Ask for help on the BitcoinTalk forums, in the Technical Support board.

Building

The following are developer notes on how to build Bitcoin on your native platform. They are not complete guides, but include notes on the necessary libraries, compile flags, etc.

Development

The Bitcoin repo's root README contains relevant information on the development process and automated testing.

Resources

Discuss on the BitcoinTalk forums, in the Development & Technical Discussion board.
Discuss on #bitcoin-dev on Freenode. If you don't have an IRC client use webchat here.

Miscellaneous

License

Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license. This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit. This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com), and UPnP software written by Thomas Bernard.