Step-by-Step Guide to Install Bitcoin Core 0.18 on Linux

Install Prerequisite Packages

Run the following command to install development tools required by Bitcoin Core:

sudo yum install -y autoconf automake libtool libdb-devel boost-devel libevent-devel

Download Bitcoin Core Source

Fetch the 0.18 source archive from the official GitHub repository:

wget https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/archive/0.18.zip

Extract the Archive

If unzip is not available, install it first: yum install unzip Then unzip the source package and enter the directory:

unzip 0.18.zip
cd bitcoin-0.18

Build and Install Berkeley DB (required for wallet support)

Install additional development libraries:

sudo yum install -y libtool-ltdl-devel gcc openssl-devel

Download Berkeley DB 4.8.30:

wget https://download.oracle.com/berkeley-db/db-4.8.30.tar.gz

Extract and compile it:

tar xvzf db-4.8.30.tar.gz -C /usr/local/src/
mkdir /usr/local/berkeleydb
cd /usr/local/src/db-4.8.30/build_unix
../dist/configure --prefix=/usr/local/berkeleydb --enable-cxx
make && sudo make install

Update the library path:

echo '/usr/local/berkeleydb/lib/' >> /etc/ld.so.conf
ldconfig

Configure and Compile Bitcoin Core

Run the autotools script to generate configure: ./autogen.sh Configure the build, pointing to the Berkeley DB libraries:

./configure LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/berkeleydb/lib/" CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/berkeleydb/include/"

If the configure step fails with a C++ compiler error, install GCC C++: yum install gcc-c++ If it reports missing libdb_cxx headers, ensure Berkeley DB was built correctly.

Compile and install:

make
sudo make install

Generated Executables

bench_bitcoin – checks for cryptographic algorithm updates.

bitcoin-cli – full‑featured RPC client.

bitcoind – the core daemon (Bitcoin Core).

bitcoin-tx – transaction creation and inspection tool.

bitcoin-wallet – wallet management utility.

test_bitcoin – test suite for various modules.

Create Configuration File

Make a hidden .bitcoin directory in your home folder and create bitcoin.conf:

mkdir -p ~/.bitcoin
touch ~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

Typical configuration content:

# Accept JSON‑RPC requests
server=1
# Run as a daemon
daemon=1
rpcuser=testuser
rpcpassword=123456
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
rpcport=8332
datadir=/mnt/btc_data

Start and Stop the Daemon

Start Bitcoin Core using the configuration file: bitcoind -conf=~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf Or simply run bitcoind if the config file is in the default location.

Stop the daemon: bitcoin-cli stop Log output is written to debug.log inside the data directory specified by datadir.