NetBSD Build Guide

Updated for NetBSD 10.1

This guide describes how to build bitcoind, command-line utilities, and GUI on NetBSD.

Preparation

1. Install Required Dependencies

Install the required dependencies the usual way you install software on NetBSD. The example commands below use pkgin.

bash

pkgin install git cmake pkg-config boost libevent

NetBSD currently ships with an older version of gcc than is needed to build. You should upgrade your gcc and then pass this new version to the configure script.

For example, grab gcc12:

pkgin install gcc12

Then, when configuring, pass the following:

bash

cmake -B build
    ...
    -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER="/usr/pkg/gcc12/bin/gcc" \
    -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER="/usr/pkg/gcc12/bin/g++" \
    ...

SQLite is required for the wallet:

bash

pkgin install sqlite3

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

Cap'n Proto is needed for IPC functionality (see multiprocess.md):

bash

pkgin install capnproto

Compile with -DENABLE_IPC=OFF if you do not need IPC functionality.

See dependencies.md for a complete overview.

2. Clone Bitcoin Repo

Clone the Bitcoin Core repository to a directory. All build scripts and commands will run from this directory.

bash

git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git

3. Install Optional Dependencies

GUI Dependencies

Qt6

Bitcoin Core includes a GUI built with the cross-platform Qt Framework. To compile the GUI, we need to install the necessary parts of Qt, the libqrencode and pass -DBUILD_GUI=ON. Skip if you don't intend to use the GUI.

bash

pkgin install qt6-qtbase qt6-qttools

libqrencode

The GUI will be able to encode addresses in QR codes unless this feature is explicitly disabled. To install libqrencode, run:

bash

pkgin install qrencode

Otherwise, if you don't need QR encoding support, use the -DWITH_QRENCODE=OFF option to disable this feature in order to compile the GUI.

Notifications

ZeroMQ

Bitcoin Core can provide notifications via ZeroMQ. If the package is installed, support will be compiled in.

bash

pkgin install zeromq

Test Suite Dependencies

There is an included test suite that is useful for testing code changes when developing. To run the test suite (recommended), you will need to have Python 3 installed:

bash

pkgin install python313 py313-zmq

Building Bitcoin Core

1. Configuration

There are many ways to configure Bitcoin Core. Here is an example that explicitly disables the wallet and GUI:

bash

cmake -B build -DENABLE_WALLET=OFF -DBUILD_GUI=OFF

Run cmake -B build -LH to see the full list of available options.

2. Compile

Build and run the tests:

bash

cmake --build build     # Append "-j N" for N parallel jobs.
ctest --test-dir build  # Append "-j N" for N parallel tests.