doc: fixing init.md documentation to not require rpcpassword #18157

jkcd commented at 9:25 AM on February 16, 2020: none

Configuration section in doc/init.md says user must set rpcpassword in order to run bitcoind. Since 71cbea fixed the code to use a cookie for authentication, it is not mandatory to set rpcpassword in the configuration.

Fixes #16346

fanquake added the label Docs on Feb 16, 2020

in doc/init.md:23 in 402e27b738 outdated

  19 | @@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ The macOS configuration assumes bitcoind will be set up for the current user.
  20 |  Configuration
  21 |  ---------------------------------
  22 |  
  23 | -At a bare minimum, bitcoind requires that the rpcpassword setting be set
  24 | -when running as a daemon.  If the configuration file does not exist or this
  25 | -setting is not set, bitcoind will shut down promptly after startup.
  26 | +Running bitcoind as a daamon does not require any manual configuration. You may

emilengler commented at 3:57 PM on February 16, 2020:

nit: daemon, not daamon

jkcd commented at 6:03 PM on February 18, 2020:

my bad, will fix it

in doc/init.md:24 in 402e27b738 outdated

  19 | @@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ The macOS configuration assumes bitcoind will be set up for the current user.
  20 |  Configuration
  21 |  ---------------------------------
  22 |  
  23 | -At a bare minimum, bitcoind requires that the rpcpassword setting be set
  24 | -when running as a daemon.  If the configuration file does not exist or this
  25 | -setting is not set, bitcoind will shut down promptly after startup.
  26 | +Running bitcoind as a daamon does not require any manual configuration. You may
  27 | +set the rpcpassword setting in the `bitcoin.conf` configuration file to override

emilengler commented at 3:58 PM on February 16, 2020:

nit: I personally prefer "overwrite"

jkcd commented at 6:22 PM on February 18, 2020:

technically this is an "override" because it is changing a default behavior and not replacing(overwrite) something that is existing.

Also override terminology is being used in other places -> https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/9546a785953b7f61a3a50e2175283cbf30bc2151/doc/bitcoin-conf.md

so to be consistent, guess it is okay to keep it "override".

fanquake requested review from hebasto on Feb 17, 2020

jkcd force-pushed on Feb 19, 2020

in doc/init.md:25 in fd535d3a07 outdated

  19 | @@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ The macOS configuration assumes bitcoind will be set up for the current user.
  20 |  Configuration
  21 |  ---------------------------------
  22 |  
  23 | -At a bare minimum, bitcoind requires that the rpcpassword setting be set
  24 | -when running as a daemon.  If the configuration file does not exist or this
  25 | -setting is not set, bitcoind will shut down promptly after startup.
  26 | +Running bitcoind as a daemon does not require any manual configuration. You may
  27 | +set the rpcpassword setting in the `bitcoin.conf` configuration file to override
  28 | +the default behaviour of using a special cookie for authentication.

emilengler commented at 6:34 PM on February 19, 2020:

Maybe give the (relative) path for cookie file

hebasto commented at 7:11 PM on February 29, 2020:

There is a dedicated doc/files.md file on this purpose in the repo.

hebasto commented at 7:04 PM on February 29, 2020: member

Concept ACK. @jkcd Thank you for working on the docs.

Let me share two notes.

Note 1. There are three mechanisms to authenticate with:

using a special .cookie file
providing -rpcuser and -rpcpassword options to the RPC server (should be deprecated as a plain text RPC password is exposed). If -rpcuser is omitted, an empty string is used instead.
providing -rpcauth option to the RPC server

More details could be found in #15989 discussion.

Note 2. It is not necessary, but it is convenient, to provide authentication options in the bitcoin.conf file. They could be passed as the command line options as well.

laanwj commented at 5:38 PM on March 2, 2020: member

Concept ACK, though I think in a lot of system-wide installs it's preferable to use RPC accounts instead of the cookie to have finer-grained access control, it might be good to mention the possibility.

jkcd commented at 2:49 AM on March 3, 2020: none

@hebasto @laanwj thanks for your notes and comments.

Given that init.md only talks about configuration for bitcoind, calling out minimum configuration and not specifying command line options would suffice? or are you suggesting I add details for "either setting -rpcpassword in bitcoind.conf or using -rpcauth command line option" as part of this PR? I am assuming we don't have to specify -rpcuser and -rpcpassword command line option since it is deprecated. Please call out if changes are required so I can update the PR.

sipa commented at 3:10 AM on March 3, 2020: member

I don't think we should mention rpcpassword at all anymore; rpcauth should be preferable in all cases.

in doc/init.md:24 in fd535d3a07 outdated

  19 | @@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ The macOS configuration assumes bitcoind will be set up for the current user.
  20 |  Configuration
  21 |  ---------------------------------
  22 |  
  23 | -At a bare minimum, bitcoind requires that the rpcpassword setting be set
  24 | -when running as a daemon.  If the configuration file does not exist or this
  25 | -setting is not set, bitcoind will shut down promptly after startup.
  26 | +Running bitcoind as a daemon does not require any manual configuration. You may
  27 | +set the rpcpassword setting in the `bitcoin.conf` configuration file to override

MarcoFalke commented at 2:23 PM on March 11, 2020:

set the `rpcauth` setting in the `bitcoin.conf` configuration file to override

in doc/init.md:24 in c949c28604 outdated

  19 | @@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ The macOS configuration assumes bitcoind will be set up for the current user.
  20 |  Configuration
  21 |  ---------------------------------
  22 |  
  23 | -At a bare minimum, bitcoind requires that the rpcpassword setting be set
  24 | -when running as a daemon.  If the configuration file does not exist or this
  25 | -setting is not set, bitcoind will shut down promptly after startup.
  26 | +Running bitcoind as a daemon does not require any manual configuration. You may
  27 | +set the `rpcauth` setting in the `bitcoin.conf` configuration file to override

MarcoFalke commented at 2:13 PM on March 21, 2020:

nit (feel free to ignore):

set the [`rpcauth` setting](/share/rpcauth) in the `bitcoin.conf` configuration file to override

hebasto commented at 2:28 PM on March 21, 2020:

nit: to be clear, the -rpcauth option does not override using a special cookie file: they work simultaneously. See #15989.

MarcoFalke approved

MarcoFalke commented at 2:14 PM on March 21, 2020: member

ACK

Please squash your commits according to https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#squashing-commits

fixing documentation to not require rpcpassword a2a03c3ca9

jkcd force-pushed on Mar 21, 2020

hebasto commented at 2:30 PM on March 21, 2020: member

ACK a2a03c3ca94b1cdd279ac09f2a81e04d262586fd, modulo nit

MarcoFalke commented at 6:23 PM on April 24, 2020: member

Can be improved upon later on, going to merge this improvement now.

MarcoFalke merged this on Apr 24, 2020

MarcoFalke closed this on Apr 24, 2020

sidhujag referenced this in commit 6b464cfe09 on Apr 24, 2020

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