libbitcoin-system

The Bitcoin Development Library

Documentation is available on the wiki.

License Overview

All files in this repository fall under the license specified in COPYING. The project is licensed as AGPL with a lesser clause. It may be used within a proprietary project, but the core library and any changes to it must be published online. Source code for this library must always remain free for everybody to access.

About libbitcoin

The libbitcoin toolkit is a set of cross platform C++ libraries for building Bitcoin applications. The toolkit consists of several libraries, most of which depend on this foundational library. Each library's repository can be cloned and built separately.

The master branch is current, pending the v4 release.

Contents

• Requirements
• Build from Source
  • GNU Autotools Build
  • CMake Build
  • CMake Presets Build
  • macOS
  • Windows
• secp256k1
• Hardware

---

Requirements

On Ubuntu 24.04 LTS:

# For GNU Autotools builds:
sudo apt install build-essential git autoconf automake libtool pkg-config

# Additionally for CMake builds:
sudo apt install cmake

---

Build from Source

libbitcoin-system ships with three installation scripts, each targeting a different toolchain:

Each script can download and build its dependencies (Boost and, optionally, a secp256k1 library) before building and installing libbitcoin-system. Unrecognized options are passed through as configuration options to all builds.

GNU Autotools Build

Uses make and Autotools (autoconf, automake, libtool). Well-tested and the reference build for CI.

git clone https://github.com/libbitcoin/libbitcoin-system
cd libbitcoin-system

./builds/gnu/install-gnu.sh \
  --prefix=$HOME/libbitcoin \
  --build-boost \
  --build-config=release \
  --build-link=static \
  --build-post-install-clean

On success the headers and library are installed under $HOME/libbitcoin, along with lib/pkgconfig/libbitcoin-system.pc.

Key options:

See all options:

./builds/gnu/install-gnu.sh --help

CMake Build

Uses CMake instead of Autotools. Configuration options use CMake's -D syntax.

git clone https://github.com/libbitcoin/libbitcoin-system
cd libbitcoin-system

./builds/cmake/install-cmake.sh \
  --prefix=$HOME/libbitcoin \
  --build-boost \
  --build-config=release \
  --build-link=static \
  --build-post-install-clean

The script options are those of the Autotools script. The configuration options are:

See all options:

./builds/cmake/install-cmake.sh --help

CMake Presets Build

Named presets combine the toolchain, build type and link mode into a single --build-preset parameter. The install prefix and build directory are set relative to the source tree.

./builds/cmake/install-presets.sh \
  --build-preset=nix-gnu-release-static \
  --build-boost

See all options:

./builds/cmake/install-presets.sh --help

macOS

The Autotools and CMake scripts work on macOS with Apple Clang. Install the prerequisites with Homebrew:

brew install autoconf automake libtool pkg-config cmake

Then follow the GNU Autotools Build or CMake Build instructions above.

Windows

Visual Studio 2026 (v145 toolset) solution and project files are in builds/msvc/vs2026/. Dependencies are NuGet packages, restored automatically when the solution is built. Only Boost is required; the secp256k1 library is an optional replacement for the internal implementation (see secp256k1):

Build from within Visual Studio, or from a command prompt with builds\msvc\build-msvc.cmd, which restores the NuGet packages and builds with MSBuild. The script runs msbuild and nuget from PATH (a Developer Command Prompt provides msbuild; nuget.exe must be downloaded). To use other executables, set the MSBUILD_EXE and NUGET_EXE environment variables before running it. Packages are restored to .nuget\packages under the source directory unless NUGET_PKG_PATH is set.

The script requires --build-config, set to a solution configuration (StaticRelease or StaticDebug). The platform defaults to x64 unless set with --build-platform (x64, Win32 or ARM64). It also accepts the same --enable-<extension> options as the other scripts.

builds\msvc\build-msvc.cmd --build-config StaticRelease

See builds\msvc\build-msvc.cmd --help for all options.

---

secp256k1

The secp256k1 elliptic curve implementation is internal, and can be replaced by any library that provides the libsecp256k1 interface. The build supports bitcoin-core/secp256k1:

WITH_SECP256K1 replaces only the calls made through the libsecp256k1 interface, so any other implementation of it can be linked in place of bitcoin-core/secp256k1. Batch verification remains internal.

---

Hardware

libbitcoin can be compiled with optional CPU acceleration for hashing and cryptography. All are disabled by default.

Important: These hardware options are not portable. The platform must provide the hardware or the process will terminate.

Example:

./builds/gnu/install-gnu.sh \
  --prefix=$HOME/libbitcoin \
  --build-boost \
  --build-config=release \
  --build-link=static \
  --enable-shani \
  --enable-sse41 \
  --enable-avx2