rpc: require integer verbosity; remove boolean 'verbose' by fqlx · Pull Request #33214 · bitcoin/bitcoin

fqlx · 2025-08-19T02:56:36Z

Summary

Standardize RPC verbosity to integers only and remove boolean handling for clarity, consistency, and future extensibility.

Rationale

Legacy cleanup: Boolean verbosity has been discouraged/deprecated in docs since 2017 and continues to create tech debt (special-case parsing, inconsistent tests, user confusion).
Consistency: Integers enable multi-level output without overloading a boolean.

User-visible changes

getblock, getrawtransaction, getorphantxs no longer accept booleans.
Passing true/false now errors with: Verbosity was boolean but only integer allowed.
Migration: false → 0, true → 1.

Code / Docs

ParseVerbosity(arg, default) now rejects booleans (removed allow_bool).
Call sites and functional tests updated to use integer levels.
Developer notes updated; release notes added.

Breaking change: scripts/tools using boolean verbosity must switch to integers.

DrahtBot · 2025-08-19T02:56:40Z

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Code Coverage & Benchmarks

For details see: https://corecheck.dev/bitcoin/bitcoin/pulls/33214.

Reviews

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Type	Reviewers
Approach NACK	stickies-v

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Conflicts

Reviewers, this pull request conflicts with the following ones:

#bitcoin-core/gui/911 (Adds non-mempool wallet balance to overview by ajtowns)
#33892 (policy: Remove individual transaction <minrelay restriction by instagibbs)
#33671 (wallet: Add separate balance info for non-mempool wallet txs by ajtowns)
#33629 (Cluster mempool by sdaftuar)
#33199 (fees: enable CBlockPolicyEstimator return sub 1 sat/vb fee rate estimates by ismaelsadeeq)
#32545 (Replace cluster linearization algorithm with SFL by sipa)
#32468 (rpc: generateblock to allow multiple outputs by polespinasa)
#32138 (wallet, rpc: remove settxfee and paytxfee by polespinasa)

If you consider this pull request important, please also help to review the conflicting pull requests. Ideally, start with the one that should be merged first.

stickies-v

Directionally, this is the right way to go, but I don't think we should be breaking the API for just this change. Let's do these cleanups when we can bundle them with other, necessary breaking changes, on a case-by-case basis. Approach NACK.

- Remove boolean handling from ParseVerbosity() and update callers. - getblock/getrawtransaction/getrawmempool no longer accept true/false. - Switch functional/Qt tests to integer verbosity. - Update release notes and docs.

maflcko · 2025-08-28T08:44:19Z

I expect those to be widely used (not only in the internal tests, as you noticed in the repeated force pushes), so this may or may not be a widely breaking change (depending on how much they are used in active projects).

There is no auto-generated schema or RPC interface, so those projects would have to fix them manually.

No strong opinion, but maybe this can be closed for now, and revisited when there is a schema generator?

fqlx · 2025-08-28T20:11:41Z

I expect those to be widely used (not only in the internal tests, as you noticed in the repeated force pushes), so this may or may not be a widely breaking change (depending on how much they are used in active projects).

There is no auto-generated schema or RPC interface, so those projects would have to fix them manually.

No strong opinion, but maybe this can be closed for now, and revisited when there is a schema generator?

In my opinion, this is a significant breaking change - but it's one that should have been done in like 2018 and now the tech debt has built up. The reason I'm suggesting this change is because people are completely unaware of the 0,1,2,3 API spec due to the assumption it's a boolean and it just works. People don't read the docs Lol. And the boolean flag is compounding a legacy spec. It's a fair assumption given the tests are outdated too.

achow101 · 2025-08-28T23:32:19Z

The way to deprecate these properly would be to first require -deprecatedrpc=boolverbose (or similar) which gates the old behavior. Then the following release can remove them.

1. rpc_deprecated.py: Tests that boolean verbosity fails without the deprecation flag 2. rpc_boolverbose_deprecated.py: Tests that boolean verbosity works with the -deprecatedrpc=boolverbose flag 3. Updated existing tests: Now expect the new "Boolean verbosity is deprecated" error message

maflcko

not sure where this pull is going, but it could make sense to split out the test changes into a separate pull (replacing the deprecated values with integers and named args), except for one deprecated value for each RPC, so that all code branches remain tests, but most code is using the new way and named args.

maflcko · 2025-09-25T17:22:55Z

    }
 }

+bool IsDeprecatedRPCEnabled(const std::string& method)


this is still moved

maflcko · 2025-09-25T17:23:50Z

-        assert_raises_rpc_error(-3, "Verbosity was boolean but only integer allowed", node.getorphantxs, verbosity=True)
-        assert_raises_rpc_error(-3, "Verbosity was boolean but only integer allowed", node.getorphantxs, verbosity=False)
+        assert_raises_rpc_error(-3, "Boolean verbosity is deprecated", node.getorphantxs, verbosity=True)
+        assert_raises_rpc_error(-3, "Boolean verbosity is deprecated", node.getorphantxs, verbosity=False)


seems odd to change the behavior here to allow deprecated values when they were forbidden

maflcko · 2025-09-25T17:27:35Z

                if "coinbase" not in vin:
                    prevout_tx = self.nodes[0].getrawtransaction(
-                        vin["txid"], True)
+                        vin["txid"], 1)


when passing integral literal values, it makes sense to use named args, otherwise it is not clear what they mean from reading just the code

DrahtBot · 2025-11-25T12:27:43Z

🐙 This pull request conflicts with the target branch and needs rebase.

DrahtBot · 2026-02-22T00:39:13Z

⌛ There hasn't been much activity lately and the patch still needs rebase. What is the status here?

Is it still relevant? ➡️ Please solve the conflicts to make it ready for review and to ensure the CI passes.
Is it no longer relevant? ➡️ Please close.
Did the author lose interest or time to work on this? ➡️ Please close it and mark it with one of the labels 'Up for grabs' or 'Insufficient Review', so that it can be picked up in the future.

fqlx changed the title ~~Rpc no bool verbosity~~ rpc: require integer verbosity; remove boolean 'verbose Aug 19, 2025

DrahtBot added the RPC/REST/ZMQ label Aug 19, 2025

fqlx changed the title ~~rpc: require integer verbosity; remove boolean 'verbose~~ rpc: require integer verbosity; remove boolean 'verbose' Aug 19, 2025

fqlx force-pushed the rpc-no-bool-verbosity branch from 06f5504 to 97a2eca Compare August 19, 2025 03:04

DrahtBot added the CI failed label Aug 19, 2025

fqlx force-pushed the rpc-no-bool-verbosity branch 3 times, most recently from dd06f31 to 5378c20 Compare August 19, 2025 06:36

stickies-v reviewed Aug 19, 2025

View reviewed changes

DrahtBot removed the CI failed label Aug 19, 2025

fqlx force-pushed the rpc-no-bool-verbosity branch from 5378c20 to 66a2640 Compare August 19, 2025 15:11

rpc: require integer verbosity; drop boolean 'verbose'

248ea17

- Remove boolean handling from ParseVerbosity() and update callers. - getblock/getrawtransaction/getrawmempool no longer accept true/false. - Switch functional/Qt tests to integer verbosity. - Update release notes and docs.

fqlx force-pushed the rpc-no-bool-verbosity branch from 66a2640 to 248ea17 Compare August 19, 2025 15:31

DrahtBot mentioned this pull request Aug 20, 2025

rpc: generateblock to allow multiple outputs #32468

Draft

DrahtBot mentioned this pull request Aug 27, 2025

wallet, rpc: remove settxfee and paytxfee #32138

Merged

DrahtBot mentioned this pull request Sep 2, 2025

fees: enable CBlockPolicyEstimator return sub 1 sat/vb fee rate estimates #33199

Merged

fanquake mentioned this pull request Sep 3, 2025

rpc: deprecateboolverbose Boolean verbosity is deprecated #33288

Closed

DrahtBot mentioned this pull request Sep 3, 2025

Cluster mempool implementation #28676

Closed

8 tasks

fqlx requested a review from stickies-v September 4, 2025 03:08

maflcko reviewed Sep 4, 2025

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/common/args.cpp Outdated

fqlx force-pushed the rpc-no-bool-verbosity branch 2 times, most recently from 171af8b to e01e104 Compare September 4, 2025 18:51

DrahtBot mentioned this pull request Sep 5, 2025

Modernize use of UTF-8 in Windows code #32380

Merged

3 tasks

fqlx force-pushed the rpc-no-bool-verbosity branch from e01e104 to 2d9e67c Compare September 13, 2025 17:07

fqlx force-pushed the rpc-no-bool-verbosity branch from 2d9e67c to 457a21a Compare September 15, 2025 17:29

fqlx requested a review from maflcko September 17, 2025 04:36

maflcko reviewed Sep 25, 2025

View reviewed changes

This was referenced Oct 10, 2025

Cluster mempool followups #33591

Merged

rpcnestedtests.cpp:remove qtest-obsolete members bitcoin-core/gui#900

Closed

Cluster mempool #33629

Merged

scripted-diff: Type-safe settings retrieval #31260

Open

This was referenced Nov 18, 2025

policy: allow <minrelay txns in package context if paid for by cpfp #33892

Merged

Adds non-mempool wallet balance to overview bitcoin-core/gui#911

Closed

wallet: Add separate balance info for non-mempool wallet txs #33671

Merged

DrahtBot added the Needs rebase label Nov 25, 2025

DrahtBot mentioned this pull request Nov 25, 2025

Replace cluster linearization algorithm with SFL #32545

Merged

fqlx closed this Feb 22, 2026

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rpc: require integer verbosity; remove boolean 'verbose'#33214

rpc: require integer verbosity; remove boolean 'verbose'#33214
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