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I'm writing a quick release note for #14494 (Error if # is used in rpcpassword in conf) and it doesn't work the way I expect with the optional new configuration file style. For example, this configuration file aborts startup as expected:
$ cat .bitcoin/bitcoin.conf ; bitcoind -testnet | tee /dev/null | head -n 5
rpcpassword=foo#bar
Error reading configuration file: parse error on line 1, using # in rpcpassword can be ambiguous and should be avoided
However, this does not:
harding@redspot:~$ cat .bitcoin/bitcoin.conf ; bitcoind -testnet | tee /dev/null | head -n 5
[test]
rpcpassword=foo#bar
2019-01-01T20:24:25Z Bitcoin Core version v0.17.99.0-f5a70d1462 (release build)
2019-01-01T20:24:25Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -whitelistforcerelay=1 -> setting -whitelistrelay=1
2019-01-01T20:24:25Z Assuming ancestors of block 0000000000000037a8cd3e06cd5edbfe9dd1dbcc5dacab279376ef7cfc2b4c75 have valid signatures.
2019-01-01T20:24:25Z Setting nMinimumChainWork=00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007dbe94253893cbd463
2019-01-01T20:24:25Z Using the 'sse4(1way),sse41(4way)' SHA256 implementation
The same problem with rpcpassword applies to the [main] section. I can confirm that options specified in sections are otherwise working correctly here, and that rpcpassword also otherwise works as expected---I only fail to get the expected error when putting it in a section.
I'm running commit f5a70d1462592a23bbad4aa150e6b2beaeec7c42 (master from 2019-01-01) on Debian Stable on x86_64.
CC: @MeshCollider (author of #14494)