Fail on unknown config file options #15021

issue maflcko opened this issue on December 21, 2018

maflcko commented at 7:16 PM on December 21, 2018: member

A solution would be to either make all binaries be aware of each other's options, or to permit config file options that only apply to specific binaries (bitcoind, bitcoin-qt, bitcoin-cli) or the wallet. (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/13799#issue-204717028)
maflcko added the label Utils/log/libs on Dec 21, 2018
maflcko referenced this in commit ea45967e85 on Jun 20, 2019
sidhujag referenced this in commit 63f310d35e on Jun 20, 2019
luke-jr commented at 5:33 PM on December 3, 2020: member

Concept NACK, this creates unnecessary problems switching between versions for no reason
harding commented at 5:36 PM on December 3, 2020: contributor

Concept ACK. A good reason for a policy of failing on unknown settings would be eliminating the annoyance of having to figure out that your configuration is broken and then having to restart the node---which is something that can take a long time (e.g. if you have a high db cache or are using an underpowered computer) and which inexperienced users might not know how to do (or might do wrong, e.g. sending SIGKILL rather than SIGTERM, which could result in a need to reindex).

Based on my own misadventures, wrongly configuring a node is a much more common problem than wanting to use a future/spinoff configuration file with an old/baseline node, so I think we should optimize for helping users fix misconfigurations as fast and painlessly as possible.
promag commented at 5:40 PM on December 3, 2020: contributor

I still think that a -strict option (on by default on future releases) makes everyone happy.
promag commented at 5:42 PM on December 3, 2020: contributor

Concept NACK, this creates unnecessary problems switching between versions for no reason @luke-jr do you agree that very few do this?
maflcko commented at 5:44 PM on December 3, 2020: member

Switching versions happens on literally every upgrade/downgrade. Ignoring unknown config values is dangerous and may lead to loss of funds.
luke-jr commented at 6:11 PM on December 3, 2020: member

@promag As @MarcoFalke points out, pretty much everyone does it...
linuxsh2 referenced this in commit 0bcf02739b on Aug 11, 2021
willcl-ark removed the label Utils/log/libs on Oct 16, 2025
willcl-ark added the label Settings on Oct 16, 2025

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#13799 Ignore unknown config file options; warn instead of error #16234 test: Add test for unknown args #28790 Possibility to dump all runtime parameter values