Merge #16448: doc: add note on precedence of options in bitcoin.conf

fanquake · fanquake · commit 25f0edd59fee · 2019-08-01T07:54:46.000+08:00
fa2f991 doc: add note on precedence of options in bitcoin.conf (Torkel Rogstad) Pull request description: This was a good addition to the docs, but the PR was closed. So I've cherry-picked the commit and fixed up Russ's comments as well as the linter issue. ACKs for top commit: laanwj: ACK fa2f991 hebasto: ACK fa2f991, I have reviewed the code and it looks OK, I agree it can be merged. jamesob: ACK fa2f991 jonatack: ACK fa2f991 ryanofsky: ACK fa2f991. Only suggested changes since previous review. Tree-SHA512: d8e7bac19e85ad32205652c3c3036766c611cae52e6e3e8af66a2da054659d914dc153d0cf4ace9c0fa7b41f2a8d74d0edd8d83fe7e984b93d70c01a388cf8ec
diff --git a/doc/bitcoin-conf.md b/doc/bitcoin-conf.md
@@ -30,6 +30,21 @@ Network specific options can be:
 - placed into sections with headers `[main]` (not `[mainnet]`), `[test]` (not `[testnet]`) or `[regtest]`;
 - prefixed with a chain name; e.g., `regtest.maxmempool=100`.
 
+Network specific options take precedence over non-network specific options.
+If multiple values for the same option are found with the same precedence, the
+first one is generally chosen.
+
+This means that given the following configuration, `regtest.rpcport` is set to `3000`:
+
+```
+regtest=1
+rpcport=2000
+regtest.rpcport=3000
+
+[regtest]
+rpcport=4000
+```
+
 ## Configuration File Path
 
 The configuration file is not automatically created; you can create it using your favorite text editor. By default, the configuration file name is `bitcoin.conf` and it is located in the Bitcoin data directory, but both the Bitcoin data directory and the configuration file path may be changed using the `-datadir` and `-conf` command-line options.
