140 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
140 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
|
|
[](https://github.com/rust-secure-code/safety-dance/)
|
|
|
|
# Rust Bitcoin Library
|
|
|
|
Library with support for de/serialization, parsing and executing on data
|
|
structures and network messages related to Bitcoin.
|
|
|
|
[Documentation](https://docs.rs/bitcoin/)
|
|
|
|
Supports (or should support)
|
|
|
|
* De/serialization of Bitcoin protocol network messages
|
|
* De/serialization of blocks and transactions
|
|
* Script de/serialization
|
|
* Private keys and address creation, de/serialization and validation (including full BIP32 support)
|
|
* PSBT creation, manipulation, merging and finalization
|
|
* Pay-to-contract support as in Appendix A of the [Blockstream sidechains whitepaper](https://www.blockstream.com/sidechains.pdf)
|
|
|
|
For JSONRPC interaction with Bitcoin Core, it is recommended to use
|
|
[rust-bitcoincore-rpc](https://github.com/rust-bitcoin/rust-bitcoincore-rpc).
|
|
|
|
## Known limitations
|
|
|
|
### Consensus
|
|
|
|
This library **must not** be used for consensus code (i.e. fully validating
|
|
blockchain data). It technically supports doing this, but doing so is very
|
|
ill-advised because there are many deviations, known and unknown, between
|
|
this library and the Bitcoin Core reference implementation. In a consensus
|
|
based cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin it is critical that all parties are
|
|
using the same rules to validate data, and this library is simply unable
|
|
to implement the same rules as Core.
|
|
|
|
Given the complexity of both C++ and Rust, it is unlikely that this will
|
|
ever be fixed, and there are no plans to do so. Of course, patches to
|
|
fix specific consensus incompatibilities are welcome.
|
|
|
|
### Support for 16-bit pointer sizes
|
|
|
|
16-bit pointer sizes are not supported and we can't promise they will be.
|
|
If you care about them please let us know, so we can know how large the interest
|
|
is and possibly decide to support them.
|
|
|
|
## Documentation
|
|
|
|
Currently can be found on [docs.rs/bitcoin](https://docs.rs/bitcoin/).
|
|
Patches to add usage examples and to expand on existing docs would be extremely
|
|
appreciated.
|
|
|
|
## Contributing
|
|
|
|
Contributions are generally welcome. If you intend to make larger changes please
|
|
discuss them in an issue before PRing them to avoid duplicate work and
|
|
architectural mismatches. If you have any questions or ideas you want to discuss
|
|
please join us in
|
|
[#bitcoin-rust](https://web.libera.chat/?channel=#bitcoin-rust) on
|
|
[libera.chat](https://libera.chat).
|
|
|
|
## Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV)
|
|
|
|
This library should always compile with any combination of features on **Rust 1.29**.
|
|
|
|
Because some dependencies have broken the build in minor/patch releases, to
|
|
compile with 1.29.0 you will need to run the following version-pinning command:
|
|
```
|
|
cargo update -p cc --precise "1.0.41" --verbose
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
In order to use the `use-serde` feature or to build the unit tests with 1.29.0,
|
|
the following version-pinning commands are also needed:
|
|
```
|
|
cargo update --package "serde" --precise "1.0.98"
|
|
cargo update --package "serde_derive" --precise "1.0.98"
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
For the feature `base64` to work with 1.29.0 we also need to pin `byteorder`:
|
|
```
|
|
cargo update -p byteorder --precise "1.3.4"
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
## Installing Rust
|
|
|
|
Rust can be installed using your package manager of choice or
|
|
[rustup.rs](https://rustup.rs). The former way is considered more secure since
|
|
it typically doesn't involve trust in the CA system. But you should be aware
|
|
that the version of Rust shipped by your distribution might be out of date.
|
|
Generally this isn't a problem for `rust-bitcoin` since we support much older
|
|
versions than the current stable one (see MSRV section).
|
|
|
|
## Building
|
|
|
|
The library can be built and tested using [`cargo`](https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/):
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
git clone git@github.com:rust-bitcoin/rust-bitcoin.git
|
|
cd rust-bitcoin
|
|
cargo build
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
You can run tests with:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
cargo test
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Please refer to the [`cargo` documentation](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/cargo/) for more detailed instructions.
|
|
|
|
## Pull Requests
|
|
|
|
Every PR needs at least two reviews to get merged. During the review phase
|
|
maintainers and contributors are likely to leave comments and request changes.
|
|
Please try to address them, otherwise your PR might get closed without merging
|
|
after a longer time of inactivity. If your PR isn't ready for review yet please
|
|
mark it by prefixing the title with `WIP: `.
|
|
|
|
## Policy on Altcoins/Altchains
|
|
|
|
Patches which add support for non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies by adding constants
|
|
to existing enums (e.g. to set the network message magic-byte sequence) are
|
|
welcome. Anything more involved will be considered on a case-by-case basis,
|
|
as the altcoin landscape includes projects which [frequently appear and
|
|
disappear, and are poorly designed anyway](https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/alts.pdf)
|
|
and keeping the codebase maintainable is a large priority.
|
|
|
|
In general, things that improve cross-chain compatibility (e.g. support for
|
|
cross-chain atomic swaps) are more likely to be accepted than things which
|
|
support only a single blockchain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Release Notes
|
|
|
|
See [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md).
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Licensing
|
|
|
|
The code in this project is licensed under the [Creative Commons CC0 1.0
|
|
Universal license](LICENSE).
|