Move to Knots from Core on Debian

[ricroc]

What I did to convert my existing core node to knots, all configs seem to hold, i hope this is helpful to someone.

wget https://bitcoinknots.org/files/29.x/29.1.knots20250903/bitcoin-29.1.knots20250903-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
wget https://bitcoinknots.org/files/29.x/29.1.knots20250903/SHA256SUMS
wget https://bitcoinknots.org/files/29.x/29.1.knots20250903/SHA256SUMS.asc
sha256sum --ignore-missing --check SHA256SUMS
git clone https://github.com/bitcoinknots/guix.sigs
gpg --import guix.sigs/builder-keys/*
gpg --verify SHA256SUMS.asc

gpg: assuming signed data in 'SHA256SUMS'
gpg: Signature made Wed Sep  3 22:50:11 2025 UTC
gpg:                using EDDSA key 1A3E761F19D2CC7785C5502EA291A2C45D0C504A
gpg: Good signature from "Luke Dashjr (Codesigning) <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 1A3E 761F 19D2 CC77 85C5  502E A291 A2C4 5D0C 504A
gpg: Signature made Thu Sep  4 06:48:30 2025 UTC
gpg:                using RSA key C1BCB7169AF1A07A0C5E471A047509FA0A6D7350
gpg:                issuer "[email protected]"
gpg: Good signature from "ataraxia009 <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: C1BC B716 9AF1 A07A 0C5E  471A 0475 09FA 0A6D 7350
gpg: Signature made Thu Sep  4 21:40:00 2025 UTC
gpg:                using RSA key 1D70CBE4B42239445617D33DD316C8140185B647
gpg: Good signature from "shiny (Bitcoin Knots attestations) <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 1D70 CBE4 B422 3944 5617  D33D D316 C814 0185 B647
gpg: Signature made Fri Sep  5 08:26:05 2025 UTC
gpg:                using RSA key DAED928C727D3E613EC46635F5073C4F4882FFFC
gpg:                issuer "[email protected]"
gpg: Good signature from "Lo Haf <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: DAED 928C 727D 3E61 3EC4  6635 F507 3C4F 4882 FFFC
gpg: Signature made Sat Sep  6 11:57:44 2025 UTC
gpg:                using EDDSA key 55058E8947E136A64F9E8AD5C4512A878E4AC2BF
gpg:                issuer "[email protected]"
gpg: Good signature from "nsvrn (nsvrn main) <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 5505 8E89 47E1 36A6 4F9E  8AD5 C451 2A87 8E4A C2BF
gpg: Signature made Sun Sep  7 15:16:13 2025 UTC
gpg:                using RSA key 0CCBAAFD76A2ECE2CCD3141DE2FFD5B1D88CA97D
gpg: Good signature from ".0xB10C <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg:                 aka ".0xB10C <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 982A 193E 3CE0 EED5 35E0  9023 188C BB26 4841 6AD5
     Subkey fingerprint: 0CCB AAFD 76A2 ECE2 CCD3  141D E2FF D5B1 D88C A97D

If all verification looks good, then proceed to the installation of the binaries

tar -xzvf bitcoin-29.1.knots20250903-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
sudo install -m 0755 -o root -g root -t /usr/local/bin bitcoin-29.1.knots20250903/bin/*

start em up
systemctl start bitcoind

results

bitcoin_node@btc-01:~$ bitcoin-cli -version
Bitcoin Knots RPC client version v29.1.knots20250903
Copyright (C) 2009-2025 The Bitcoin Knots developers
Copyright (C) 2009-2025 The Bitcoin Core developers

Please contribute if you find Bitcoin Knots useful. Visit
<https://bitcoinknots.org/> for further information about the software.
The source code is available from <https://github.com/bitcoinknots/bitcoin>.

This is experimental software.
Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying file COPYING
or <https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>
bitcoin_node@btc-01:~$ bitcoin-cli -getinfo
Chain: main
Blocks: 694515
Headers: 914451
Verification progress: ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░░░░░ 53.1980%
Difficulty: 14496442856349.12

Network: in 0, out 11, total 11
Version: 290100
Time offset (s): -1
Proxies: 127.0.0.1:9050 (ipv4, ipv6, onion, cjdns), 127.0.0.1:7656 (i2p)
Min tx relay fee rate (BTC/kvB): 0.00001000

Warnings: (none)
bitcoin_node@btc-01:~$ bitcoin-cli -version
Bitcoin Knots RPC client version v29.1.knots20250903
Copyright (C) 2009-2025 The Bitcoin Knots developers
Copyright (C) 2009-2025 The Bitcoin Core developers

Please contribute if you find Bitcoin Knots useful. Visit
<https://bitcoinknots.org/> for further information about the software.
The source code is available from <https://github.com/bitcoinknots/bitcoin>.

This is experimental software.
Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying file COPYING
or <https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>
bitcoin_node@btc-01:~$ systemctl status bitcoind
* bitcoind.service - bitcoind
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/bitcoind.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-09-13 04:52:57 UTC; 21min ago
   Main PID: 2173 (bitcoind)
      Tasks: 27 (limit: 38193)
     Memory: 4.6G
        CPU: 4min 42.628s
     CGroup: /system.slice/bitcoind.service
             `-2173 bitcoind -conf=/data/bitcoin.conf
bitcoin_node@btc-01:~$