Conflicting Bitcoin Core Files: Bitcoin-Qt and Bitcoind

When using Bitcoin Core 25.1 on a Raspberry Pi, you will often encounter conflicts between the two different versions of the Bitcoin-QT and Bitcoind binaries. In this article, we will explore how to resolve these conflicts by modifying the bitcoin.conf file.

The Problem: Conflicting Files

The bitcoin.conf file contains settings specific to each version of Bitcoin Core. The most notable difference between the two versions is the use of different protocol parameters.

Bitcoin-Qt and Bitcoind Binaries

When you download Bitcoin Core 25.1, it will contain both Bitcoin-QT (Qt-based) and Bitcoind binaries. The bitcoin.conf file contains settings specific to each binary version.

For example, if you are using Bitcoin-QT, the “bitcoin.conf” file will contain lines like:

“bash”

[general]

server = localhost:8332

port = 8332

“”

If you are using Bitcoind, the corresponding line would be:

“bash”

[general]

server = localhost:8333

port = 8333

“”

The Conflicting Files

To resolve the conflict between “bitcoin.conf” files from different versions of Bitcoin Core, you need to update or change the settings in each file. Here’s how we do it:

• Update .bitcoin directory on external drive

• Create an external drive (e.g. USB SD card) and copy the contents of your Raspberry Pi’s “~/.local/share/bitcoin-core” directory to the new drive.

• Edit .bitcoin files

On your Raspberry Pi, navigate to the ~/.bitcoin directory.

For Bitcoin-QT:

nano ~/.bitcoin/qt.conf

For Bitcoind:

nano ~/.bitcoin/bitcoreconf.conf

Update settings in .bitcoin files

In each of the .bitcoin files, update the following settings:

• server (for Bitcoin-QT): change from localhost:8332 to localhost:8331

• port (for Bitcoind): change from 8333 to 8331

Rebuild .bitcoin files

After updating the settings in each file, rebuild the .bitcoin files:

./build-bitcoinqt
./build-bitcoreconf

Check if conflicts are resolved are

To verify that the conflicts have been resolved:

• Start Bitcoin-QT and Bitcoind without specifying a “server” or “port”.

• Verify that both services start successfully.

By updating or changing the settings in each “.bitcoin” file, you should now be able to use both Bitcoin Core versions on your Raspberry Pi.