[docs] Clarify -walletdir usage #12166

1. 
   jnewbery commented at 10:14 pm on January 11, 2018: member

   After discussion with @ryanofsky around #11687 , I think this documentation is a bit clearer for how the new -walletdir argument works.
2. fanquake added the label Docs on Jan 11, 2018
3. 
   ryanofsky commented at 10:33 pm on January 11, 2018: member

   Attn @MeshCollider, this is trying to clarify some things in the release notes you wrote for #11466.

   Note that this documentation doesn’t really have anything at all to do with 11687. There was just some discussion about #11466 that spilled into the comments there:

   #11687 (comment) #11687 (comment) #11687 (comment) #11687#pullrequestreview-87865301

4. in doc/release-notes.md:85 in b5075fe86b outdated

   91+Wallets directory configuration (`-walletdir`)
   92+----------------------------------------------
   93+
   94+Bitcoin Core now has more flexibility in where the wallets directory can be located.
   95+
   96+- For new installations (where the data directory doesn't already exist),
   

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   ryanofsky commented at 10:36 pm on January 11, 2018:

   I would add something to ground this in existing behavior. Maybe say “Previously wallet database files were stored at the top level of the bitcoin data directory. Now for new installations […]”

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   jnewbery commented at 3:26 pm on January 15, 2018:

   Good suggestion. Added.
5. [docs] Clarify -walletdir usage 97c3cada92
6. in doc/release-notes.md:94 in b5075fe86b outdated

   100+  stored in the data directory root by default. If a `wallets/` subdirectory
   101+  already exists in the data directory root, then wallets will be stored in the
   102+  `wallets/` subdirectory by default.
   103+- The location of the wallets directory can be overridden by specifying a
   104+  `-walletdir=<path>` option where `<path>` can be an absolute path or a
   105+  relative path (relative to the current working directory). `<path>` can
   

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   ryanofsky commented at 10:38 pm on January 11, 2018:

   Relative to the data directory, not the current working directory, I believe.

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   jnewbery commented at 3:24 pm on January 15, 2018:

   No, I’ve retested and it’s relative to the cwd. See https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/44080a90a29292df96e92f22242785c5040000a1/src/wallet/walletutil.cpp#L12.

   This is part of what prompted my comment here: #11687 (comment) - it’s slightly confusing that -walletdir relative paths are relative to the cwd and -wallet paths are relative to the walletdir. That’s also why I think #11687 can’t be thought of as being completely independent from the changes in #11466 . The documentation needs to describe clearly the interactions between the two options.

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   ryanofsky commented at 4:14 pm on January 15, 2018:

   Attn @MeshCollider

   it’s slightly confusing that -walletdir relative paths are relative to the cwd

   This is worse than confusing. This sounds like a mistake that should be fixed. Current working directory is helpful thing to rely on in scripts and command line tools, but long running apps and daemons should not depend on the current working directory. If a relative -walletdir path is specified in bitcoin.conf, it would be footgun for that directory to point to a completely different location if one day the user happens to be in a different directory when starting up bitcoin.

   I think a new PR should be opened to either forbid relative -walletdir paths, or interpret them stably relative to <datadir>.

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   meshcollider commented at 8:16 pm on January 15, 2018:

   The -walletdir is relative in the same way -datadir is, I think that consistency is less confusing than making walletdir relative to datadir. Keep in mind an error will be thrown if the wallet directory doesn’t exist so it’s unlikely to start if the cwd was different

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   jnewbery commented at 9:23 pm on January 15, 2018:

   I don’t have a strong preference on how this works. As @MeshCollider says, the relativity of -walletdir is consistent with -datadir.

   Any approach (make walletdir relative to datadir, make walletdir relative to cwd, or disallow relative paths for walletdir) seems fine to me as long as it’s clearly documented.

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   randolf commented at 4:34 am on January 18, 2018:

   I’ve noticed, on occasion, that people ask “Where is my wallet.dat file stored?” I wonder if this “cwd” default behaviour might be a culprit. I certainly favour clearer documentation, and I wonder if perhaps it could be helpful to raise an informational notice indicating the full path when a new wallet file is created.

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   meshcollider commented at 4:53 am on January 18, 2018:

   @randolf this is unrelated, this change has not been in any release yet, it will be released in 0.16 :)
7. jnewbery force-pushed on Jan 15, 2018
8. 
   meshcollider commented at 8:17 pm on January 15, 2018: contributor

   Looks good to me, ACK https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/97c3cada9266e0aebd0f97c5e9de09a7d10456fa
9. 
   Sjors commented at 5:11 pm on January 17, 2018: member

   Tested ACK 97c3cad
10. jonasschnelli approved
11. 
    jonasschnelli commented at 8:06 pm on January 18, 2018: contributor

    ACK 97c3cada9266e0aebd0f97c5e9de09a7d10456fa
12. laanwj merged this on Jan 18, 2018
13. laanwj closed this on Jan 18, 2018

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14. laanwj referenced this in commit e839d6570d on Jan 18, 2018
15. 
    MarcoFalke commented at 8:12 pm on January 18, 2018: member

    Post-merge ACK 97c3cad
16. jnewbery deleted the branch on Jan 18, 2018
17. furszy referenced this in commit b04e1f5a90 on Jul 23, 2021
18. DrahtBot locked this on Sep 8, 2021

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jnewbery ryanofsky meshcollider randolf Sjors jonasschnelli MarcoFalke

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