Binary release tarballs should come with a README #8160

issue laanwj opened this issue on June 7, 2016
  1. laanwj commented at 1:55 PM on June 7, 2016: member

    A typical release tarball (or zipball) currently contains the following:

    bitcoin-0.12.1/
bitcoin-0.12.1/bin/
bitcoin-0.12.1/bin/bitcoin-cli
bitcoin-0.12.1/bin/bitcoind
bitcoin-0.12.1/bin/bitcoin-qt
bitcoin-0.12.1/bin/bitcoin-tx
bitcoin-0.12.1/bin/test_bitcoin
bitcoin-0.12.1/include/
bitcoin-0.12.1/include/bitcoinconsensus.h
bitcoin-0.12.1/lib/
bitcoin-0.12.1/lib/libbitcoinconsensus.so
bitcoin-0.12.1/lib/libbitcoinconsensus.so.0
bitcoin-0.12.1/lib/libbitcoinconsensus.so.0.0.0

    I think we should add a README.md with the release that describes how to get started, and what every file is for.

    For windows we have doc/README_windows.txt which gets packaged as part of the installer. It is not packaged as part of the windows zips though.

  2. laanwj added the label Docs and Output on Jun 7, 2016
  3. laanwj added the label Easy to implement on Jun 7, 2016
  4. laanwj cross-referenced this on Jun 7, 2016 from issue Binary release doesn't make it easy to find the source code by laanwj
  5. fanquake cross-referenced this on Jun 12, 2016 from issue [trivial] Remove URLs from About dialog translations by fanquake
  6. fanquake commented at 11:47 AM on November 12, 2016: member

    From #8161: "The README should also include a link to this repository. This makes it easier to find the source code for potential contributors, as well as avoids awkward questions like #8157."

  7. Varunram commented at 9:53 AM on November 30, 2017: contributor

    I notice that we still don't bundle READMEs with tar balls. May I put in a PR for this?

  8. fanquake commented at 9:55 AM on November 30, 2017: member

    @Varunram No need to ask for permission, feel free to open a PR to fix any open issue.

  9. Varunram cross-referenced this on Dec 21, 2017 from issue [docs]: include README with binary releases by Varunram
  10. cisba referenced this in commit 948b811bb2 on Aug 22, 2018
  11. cisba referenced this in commit c269e3da22 on Aug 22, 2018
  12. hebasto referenced this in commit 00ce7364d3 on Aug 23, 2018
  13. hebasto referenced this in commit 8249e829f7 on Aug 23, 2018
  14. hebasto cross-referenced this on Aug 23, 2018 from issue Add README.md to linux release tarballs by hebasto
  15. laanwj cross-referenced this on Aug 27, 2018 from issue docs: updated README.md to include link to repo, files list and description by cisba
  16. hebasto referenced this in commit 8550f1fb28 on Aug 27, 2018
  17. cisba referenced this in commit e1464e5bb3 on Aug 30, 2018
  18. laanwj closed this on Aug 31, 2018
  19. laanwj referenced this in commit 0c9bea5a00 on Aug 31, 2018
  20. cisba referenced this in commit 4f4c5af2fb on Sep 6, 2018
  21. cisba referenced this in commit 4d7c29e1c6 on Sep 6, 2018
  22. cisba referenced this in commit af69cb2d70 on Sep 6, 2018
  23. jfhk referenced this in commit db14588d4f on Nov 14, 2018
  24. HashUnlimited referenced this in commit 2e71f6c5c8 on Nov 26, 2018
  25. cisba referenced this in commit 60ee12be43 on Feb 16, 2019
  26. MarcoFalke cross-referenced this on Oct 7, 2019 from issue gitian: Various improvements for Windows descriptor by dongcarl
  27. PastaPastaPasta referenced this in commit 74330cc229 on Jun 27, 2021
  28. PastaPastaPasta referenced this in commit 0950ac1865 on Jun 28, 2021
  29. PastaPastaPasta referenced this in commit 9e4b051691 on Jun 29, 2021
  30. PastaPastaPasta referenced this in commit 8d3490a00a on Jun 29, 2021
  31. PastaPastaPasta referenced this in commit edba1fcee8 on Jun 29, 2021
  32. PastaPastaPasta referenced this in commit fcfdfa2c90 on Jun 29, 2021
  33. PastaPastaPasta referenced this in commit f8f3a27300 on Jun 29, 2021
  34. Munkybooty referenced this in commit b5078c1929 on Jun 30, 2021
  35. PastaPastaPasta referenced this in commit 2de80ac210 on Jul 1, 2021
  36. bitcoin locked this on Sep 8, 2021
  37. gades referenced this in commit 249d9ac90d on May 12, 2022
Contributors
laanwjfanquakeVarunram
Labels
Docsgood first issue
Linked (view graph)
#8157 This is really bitcoin open source?#8161 Binary release doesn't make it easy to find the source code#8192 [trivial] Remove URLs from About dialog translations#11971 [docs]: include README with binary releases#14022 [Docs]: new README_unix.md to be included into tar or zip archives, c…#14026 docs: updated README.md to include link to repo, files list and description#14037 Add README.md to linux release tarballs#14167 [WIP] docs: improve linux tar packages#17029 gitian: Various improvements for Windows descriptor
github-metadata-mirror

This is a metadata mirror of the GitHub repository bitcoin/bitcoin. This site is not affiliated with GitHub. Content is generated from a GitHub metadata backup.
generated: 2026-05-20 06:55 UTC