Explain when reindex-chainstate can be used instead of reindex #13662

Sjors commented at 2:43 PM on July 14, 2018: member

Save users from having to Google this: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/60711

Sjors force-pushed on Jul 14, 2018

fanquake added the label Docs on Jul 14, 2018

Explain when reindex-chainstate can be used instead of reindex 65a449f8e3

in src/init.cpp:387 in 6c53e46179 outdated

 383 | @@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ void SetupServerArgs()
 384 |              "Warning: Reverting this setting requires re-downloading the entire blockchain. "
 385 |              "(default: 0 = disable pruning blocks, 1 = allow manual pruning via RPC, >%u = automatically prune block files to stay under the specified target size in MiB)", MIN_DISK_SPACE_FOR_BLOCK_FILES / 1024 / 1024), false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
 386 |      gArgs.AddArg("-reindex", "Rebuild chain state and block index from the blk*.dat files on disk", false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
 387 | -    gArgs.AddArg("-reindex-chainstate", "Rebuild chain state from the currently indexed blocks", false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
 388 | +    gArgs.AddArg("-reindex-chainstate", "Rebuild chain state from the currently indexed blocks. Only necessary in pruning mode or if blocks on disk might be corrupted.", false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);

MarcoFalke commented at 2:53 PM on July 14, 2018:

If the blocks on disk are corrupted, you should do a "full" reindex, not rebuild the chainstate.

Sjors commented at 3:44 PM on July 14, 2018:

Oops, I got the comment the wrong way around.

Sjors force-pushed on Jul 14, 2018

in src/init.cpp:387 in 65a449f8e3

 383 | @@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ void SetupServerArgs()
 384 |              "Warning: Reverting this setting requires re-downloading the entire blockchain. "
 385 |              "(default: 0 = disable pruning blocks, 1 = allow manual pruning via RPC, >%u = automatically prune block files to stay under the specified target size in MiB)", MIN_DISK_SPACE_FOR_BLOCK_FILES / 1024 / 1024), false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
 386 |      gArgs.AddArg("-reindex", "Rebuild chain state and block index from the blk*.dat files on disk", false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
 387 | -    gArgs.AddArg("-reindex-chainstate", "Rebuild chain state from the currently indexed blocks", false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
 388 | +    gArgs.AddArg("-reindex-chainstate", "Rebuild chain state from the currently indexed blocks. When in pruning mode or if blocks on disk might be corrupted, use full -reindex instead.", false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);

MarcoFalke commented at 4:40 PM on July 14, 2018:

I believe it will automatically prompt you to use -reindex when needed while in pruning mode, so maybe no need to mention it here?

Then, you could move the note about corruption to reindex. E.g. "Rebuild chain state and block index from the blk.dat files on disk *. Only needed when blocks on disk are corrupted. "

Sjors commented at 1:01 PM on July 16, 2018:

I just sabotaged a pruned node by deleting the most recent blkxxxxx.dat file and then started bitcoind: Please restart with -reindex or -reindex-chainstate to recover.

Restarting that pruned node with -reindex-chainstate will result in the same error message and won't tell the user they need to use -reindex instead. So I think it's better to mention pruned node in the help here.

MarcoFalke commented at 4:40 PM on July 14, 2018: member

Concept ACK

randolf approved

MarcoFalke commented at 6:22 PM on September 7, 2018: member

utACK 65a449f8e3

MarcoFalke merged this on Sep 7, 2018

MarcoFalke closed this on Sep 7, 2018

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