b5321cf939
c36c496507405bfcd059b1fc8b117897a6850b9a banlist: fail on unexpected errors (Erik Arvstedt)
e0276503edc16fb2048f871cb66aae607726430c fixup! ignore banlist errors (like in master) (Erik Arvstedt)
d64156e485f12e99bc9a51d8693221656f9889b7 banlist: don't wait in preStart until bitcoind is ready (Erik Arvstedt)
d87c50a30526fb75b2de225b42eba5c7a37de81e banlist: simplify unit, bind to bitcoind, fix wantedBy (Erik Arvstedt)
39885d37c1e7fbe5c6e3668bd5cf74e8029f3d15 banlist: simplify script, remove package (Erik Arvstedt)
55e73f32e3fb3809e56f8f770334c654d56739e5 bitcoind: add cli option (Erik Arvstedt)
8807b9f6b296f7ab36382c4bda94fc2fbc1b4828 bitcoind: remove 'StateDirectory' (Erik Arvstedt)
Pull request description:
Please see the individual commit messages for more infos.
This time I've used commit msg titles starting with lower-case letters.
I think this style is the simplest and cleanest, especially with
`topic:` prefixes. Let me know if I should reformat this.
Regarding commit `banlist: simplify script, remove package`:
I've added the current version of Greg's banlist, but it has 5600 entries instead of the previous 739. Is this ok?
Rationale for commit `bitcoind: add cli option`:
For some cases it can be useful when bitcoin-cli is an executable instead of a shell alias.
- non-interactive ssh commands like `ssh mynode 'bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo'`.
This can also be achieved with shell aliases in `environment.shellInit`, but it's good
practice to avoid aliases in noninteractive shells.
- Scripts that call `bitcoin-cli`. The banlist importer which uses this is a good example.
ACKs for top commit:
jonasnick:
ACK c36c496507405bfcd059b1fc8b117897a6850b9a
Tree-SHA512: 31dacf5e5b051ada24151c9884a97cfd83883c2b48e3d25e16f228fb575cb915e1093d12d171a44d25064fda7d7b98a27c897cc4bdace527c52fdf652033a160
nix-bitcoin
Nix packages and nixos modules for easily installing Bitcoin nodes and higher layer protocols with an emphasis on security. This is a work in progress - don't expect it to be bug free or secure.
The default configuration sets up a Bitcoin Core node and c-lightning. The user can enable spark-wallet in configuration.nix to make c-lightning accessible with a smartphone using spark-wallet.
A simple webpage shows the lightning nodeid and links to nanopos letting the user receive donations.
It also includes elements-daemon.
Outbound peer-to-peer traffic is forced through Tor, and listening services are bound to onion addresses.
A demo installation is running at http://6tr4dg3f2oa7slotdjp4syvnzzcry2lqqlcvqkfxdavxo6jsuxwqpxad.onion. The following screen cast shows a fresh deployment of a nix-bitcoin node.
The goal is to make it easy to deploy a reasonably secure Bitcoin node with a usable wallet. It should allow managing bitcoin (the currency) effectively and providing public infrastructure. It should be a reproducible and extensible platform for applications building on Bitcoin.
Available modules
By default the configuration.nix provides:
- bitcoind with outbound connections through Tor and inbound connections through a hidden service. By default loaded with banlist of spy nodes.
- clightning with outbound connections through Tor, not listening
- includes "nodeinfo" script which prints basic info about the node
- adds non-root user "operator" which has access to bitcoin-cli and lightning-cli
In configuration.nix the user can enable:
- a clightning hidden service
- liquid
- lightning charge
- nanopos
- an index page using nginx to display node information and link to nanopos
- spark-wallet
- electrs
- recurring-donations, a module to repeatedly send lightning payments to recipients specified in the configuration.
- bitcoin-core-hwi.
- You no longer need extra software to connect your hardware wallet to Bitcoin Core. Use Bitcoin Core's own Hardware Wallet Interface with one
configuration.nixsetting.
- You no longer need extra software to connect your hardware wallet to Bitcoin Core. Use Bitcoin Core's own Hardware Wallet Interface with one
The data directories of the services can be found in /var/lib on the deployed machines.
Installation
The easiest way is to run nix-shell (on a Linux machine) in the nix-bitcoin directory and then create a NixOps deployment with the provided network.nix in the network directory.
Fix the FIXMEs in configuration.nix and deploy with nixops in nix-shell.
See install.md for a detailed tutorial.
Security
- Simplicity: Only services you select in
configuration.nixand their dependencies are installed, packages and dependencies are pinned, most packages are built from the nixos stable channel, with a few exceptions that are built from the nixpkgs unstable channel, builds happen in a sandboxed environment, code is continiously reviewed and refined. - Integrity: Nix package manager, NixOS and packages can be built from source to reduce reliance on binary caches, nix-bitcoin merge commits are signed, all commits are approved by multiple nix-bitcoin developers, upstream packages are cryptographically verified where possible, we use this software ourselves.
- Principle of Least Privilege: Services operate with least privileges; they each have their own user and are restricted further with systemd options, there's a non-root user operator to interact with the various services.
- Defense-in-depth: nix-bitcoin is built with a hardened kernel by default, services are confined through discretionary access control, Linux namespaces, and seccomp-bpf with continuous improvements.
Note that nix-bitcoin is still experimental. Also, by design if the machine you're deploying from is insecure, there is nothing nix-bitcoin can do to protect itself.
Hardware requirements
- Disk space: 300 GB (235GB for Bitcoin blockchain + some room)
- Bitcoin Core pruning is not supported at the moment because it's not supported by c-lightning. It's possible to use pruning but you need to know what you're doing.
- RAM: 2GB of memory. ECC memory is better. Additionally, it's recommended to use DDR4 memory with targeted row refresh (TRR) enabled (https://rambleed.com/).
Tested hardware includes pcengine's apu2c4, GB-BACE-3150, GB-BACE-3160. Some hardware (including Intel NUCs) may not be compatible with the hardened kernel turned on by default (see https://github.com/fort-nix/nix-bitcoin/issues/39#issuecomment-517366093 for a workaround).
Usage
For usage instructions, such as how to connect to spark-wallet, electrs and the ssh Tor Hidden Service, see usage.md.
Troubleshooting
If you are having problems with nix-bitcoin check the FAQ or submit an issue.
There's also a #nix-bitcoin IRC channel on freenode.
We are always happy to help.