doc: update wallet build instruction #33179

pull Sjors wants to merge 1 commits into bitcoin:master from Sjors:2025/08/wallet changing 5 files +41 −55

Sjors commented at 2:53 PM on August 12, 2025: member

Sqlite and the wallet are no longer optional, but they can still be opted out of. This PR updates the build instructions accordingly.

Updating this text now reduces churn in #31802.
DrahtBot added the label Docs on Aug 12, 2025
DrahtBot commented at 2:53 PM on August 12, 2025: contributor


The following sections might be updated with supplementary metadata relevant to reviewers and maintainers.



Code Coverage & Benchmarks

For details see: https://corecheck.dev/bitcoin/bitcoin/pulls/33179.



Reviews

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Type Reviewers

ACK w0xlt, pablomartin4btc, jonatack, janb84, achow101

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Conflicts

Reviewers, this pull request conflicts with the following ones:
- #31802 (Add bitcoin-{node,gui} to release binaries for IPC by Sjors)
If you consider this pull request important, please also help to review the conflicting pull requests. Ideally, start with the one that should be merged first.
w0xlt commented at 4:40 PM on August 12, 2025: contributor

ACK https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/33179/commits/8ccf3acd00ce65424266e60b356f8d8df3021f16

Type	Reviewers
ACK	w0xlt, pablomartin4btc, jonatack, janb84, achow101

in doc/build-freebsd.md:22 in 8ccf3acd00 outdated

  17 | +
  18 | +```bash
  19 | +pkg install sqlite3
  20 | +```
  21 | +
  22 | +To build Bitcoin Core without wallet, use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF`.

jonatack commented at 4:57 PM on August 12, 2025:

To build Bitcoin Core without the wallet, use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF`.

Sjors commented at 5:38 PM on August 12, 2025:

Did a replace-all for this one...

in doc/build-netbsd.md:40 in 8ccf3acd00 outdated

  35 | +
  36 | +```bash
  37 | +pkgin sqlite3
  38 | +```
  39 | +
  40 | +To build Bitcoin Core without wallet, use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF`.

jonatack commented at 4:57 PM on August 12, 2025:

To build Bitcoin Core without the wallet, use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF`.

in doc/build-openbsd.md:22 in 8ccf3acd00 outdated

  17 | +
  18 | +```bash
  19 | +pkg_add sqlite3
  20 | +```
  21 | +
  22 | +To build Bitcoin Core without wallet, use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF`.

jonatack commented at 4:58 PM on August 12, 2025:

To build Bitcoin Core without the wallet, use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF`.

in doc/build-osx.md:56 in 8ccf3acd00 outdated

  50 | @@ -51,6 +51,14 @@ To install, run the following from your terminal:
  51 |  brew install cmake boost pkgconf libevent
  52 |  ```
  53 |  
  54 | +#### Wallet Dependencies
  55 | +
  56 | +If you do not need wallet functionality you can use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF` in

jonatack commented at 4:59 PM on August 12, 2025:

If you do not need wallet functionality, you can use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF` in

in doc/build-osx.md:59 in 8ccf3acd00 outdated

  50 | @@ -51,6 +51,14 @@ To install, run the following from your terminal:
  51 |  brew install cmake boost pkgconf libevent
  52 |  ```
  53 |  
  54 | +#### Wallet Dependencies
  55 | +
  56 | +If you do not need wallet functionality you can use `-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF` in
  57 | +the `cmake -B` step below.
  58 | +
  59 | +`sqlite` is required, but since macOS ships with a useable `sqlite` package, you don't need to

jonatack commented at 4:59 PM on August 12, 2025:

SQLite is required, but since macOS ships with a useable `sqlite` package, you don't need to

jonatack commented at 4:59 PM on August 12, 2025: member

Approach ACK

doc: update wallet build instruction

Sqlite is expected to be installed, but can still be opted out of.

67e186deb0

Sjors force-pushed on Aug 12, 2025
Sjors commented at 5:42 PM on August 12, 2025: member

Applied @jonatack's suggestions.

I slightly reworded the commit message, since technically sqlite is still optional. However since the default cmake incantation will fail without it installed, I do think it's best to move up and out of the "Optional Dependencies" section.
w0xlt commented at 6:18 PM on August 12, 2025: contributor

reACK https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/33179/commits/67e186deb01749ec6a3691d0b763bdc89ab2328f
DrahtBot requested review from jonatack on Aug 12, 2025
pablomartin4btc commented at 7:43 PM on August 12, 2025: member
ACK 67e186deb01749ec6a3691d0b763bdc89ab2328f

nit (not a blocker):
- it looks like build-unix.md is the only build-*.md doc having the Disable-wallet mode section which also explains what use you give to a node without a wallet; this could be replicated to the other OSs build docs for consistency (or the other way around?).
- the Windows build docs don't include any mention to how to disable the wallet (-DENABLE_WALLET=OFF/ DVCPKG_MANIFEST_FEATURES) or SQLite (which is being distributed within the OS since Windows 10 I think) - as in build-osx.md one can find: "SQLite is required, but since macOS ships with a useable sqlite package, you don't need to install anything".
jonatack commented at 8:59 PM on August 12, 2025: member

ACK 67e186deb01749ec6a3691d0b763bdc89ab2328f
Sjors commented at 9:41 AM on August 13, 2025: member

or the other way around?

This section feels superfluous at this point, I think it was historically more relevant because BDB was a pain to compile. But I'd rather not do that in this PR.

the Windows build docs

IPC doesn't work on Windows (yet), so I haven't touched those docs at all. I also can't test Windows at the moment.
janb84 commented at 5:41 PM on August 14, 2025: contributor

ACK 67e186deb01749ec6a3691d0b763bdc89ab2328f

PR updates build documents to indicate that SQLite is now a required dependency of the wallet. PR includes all the build docs minus the windows build docs but there is no mention of SQLite or the wallet in those.
achow101 commented at 6:05 PM on August 14, 2025: member

ACK 67e186deb01749ec6a3691d0b763bdc89ab2328f
achow101 merged this on Aug 14, 2025
achow101 closed this on Aug 14, 2025
hebasto commented at 3:31 PM on August 15, 2025: member

Post-merge ACK 67e186deb01749ec6a3691d0b763bdc89ab2328f.