GNet Solutions » FreeBSD Administration

This is a guide for setting up and mining bitcoin on FreeBSD 10. This is not a comprehensive guide and is meant for educational purposes. YMMV

Prepare the Environment¶

• Make sure the system is up to date:
  

  pkg update && pkg upgrade
  

• Install sudo:
  

  pkg install sudo
  

• Create a bitcoin user and group:
  

  pw add group bitcoin
  pw add user -n bitcoin -g bitcoin -s /sbin/nologin -c "Bitcoin" 
  

Install Bitcoin Daemon¶

• Install bitcoin-daemon:
  

  pkg install bitcoin-daemon bitcoin-utils
  

• Create a basic bitcoin config file:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf
  

  • And set the following parameters:
    

    rpcuser=bitcoinrpc
    rpcpassword=SuperSecretPassword
    rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
    rpcport=2300
    daemon=1
    server=1
    gen=0
    

• Create the bitcoin data directory:
  

  mkdir /var/db/bitcoind
  chown bitcoin:bitcoin /var/db/bitcoind
  

• Start and enable the server at boot:
  

  echo 'bitcoind_user="bitcoin"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  echo 'bitcoind_group="bitcoin"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  echo 'bitcoind_data="/var/db/bitcoind"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  echo 'bitcoind_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  service bitcoind start
  

Useful Commands¶

• Get blockchain and network stats
  

  sudo -u bitcoin bitcoin-cli -conf=/usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf getblockchaininfo
  sudo -u bitcoin bitcoin-cli -conf=/usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf getnetworkinfo
  sudo -u bitcoin bitcoin-cli -conf=/usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf getnettotals
  

• Create a new bitcoin address and retrieve the address:
  

  sudo -u bitcoin bitcoin-cli -conf=/usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf getnewaddress "MyBitcoin" 
  sudo -u bitcoin bitcoin-cli -conf=/usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf getaccountaddress "MyBitcoin" 
  

• Get wallet info:
  

  sudo -u bitcoin bitcoin-cli -conf=/usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf getwalletinfo
  

• Get help:
  

  sudo -u bitcoin bitcoin-cli -conf=/usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf help
  

NOTE: To ensure you DO NOT lose your wallet, make sure to keep a backup of /var/db/bitcoind/wallet.dat in a safe and secure location.

• Get the blockchain size used on disk:
  

  du -ch /var/db/bitcoind/blocks/
  

• Check the blockchain download progress:
  

  tail -f /var/db/bitcoind/debug.log
  

Install Bitcoin GUI Client¶

• NOTE: This is an optional step used in a graphical environment.

• Install bitcoin:
  

  pkg install bitcoin
  

Resources¶

• https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin
• https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/contrib/debian/examples/bitcoin.conf
• https://bitcoin.org/en/full-node#other-linux-distributions
• https://bitcoin.org/en/full-node#network-configuration
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/34amqa/freenas_full_node/