github.com/juliankolbe/go-ethereum@v1.9.992/README.md (about) 1 ## Go Ethereum 2 3 Official Golang implementation of the Ethereum protocol. 4 5 [](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/juliankolbe/go-ethereum?tab=doc) 6 [](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/juliankolbe/go-ethereum) 7 [](https://travis-ci.com/ethereum/go-ethereum) 8 [](https://discord.gg/nthXNEv) 9 10 Automated builds are available for stable releases and the unstable master branch. Binary 11 archives are published at https://geth.ethereum.org/downloads/. 12 13 ## Building the source 14 15 For prerequisites and detailed build instructions please read the [Installation Instructions](https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/install-and-build/installing-geth). 16 17 Building `geth` requires both a Go (version 1.13 or later) and a C compiler. You can install 18 them using your favourite package manager. Once the dependencies are installed, run 19 20 ```shell 21 make geth 22 ``` 23 24 or, to build the full suite of utilities: 25 26 ```shell 27 make all 28 ``` 29 30 ## Executables 31 32 The go-ethereum project comes with several wrappers/executables found in the `cmd` 33 directory. 34 35 | Command | Description | 36 | :-----------: | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 37 | **`geth`** | Our main Ethereum CLI client. It is the entry point into the Ethereum network (main-, test- or private net), capable of running as a full node (default), archive node (retaining all historical state) or a light node (retrieving data live). It can be used by other processes as a gateway into the Ethereum network via JSON RPC endpoints exposed on top of HTTP, WebSocket and/or IPC transports. `geth --help` and the [CLI page](https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/interface/command-line-options) for command line options. | 38 | `abigen` | Source code generator to convert Ethereum contract definitions into easy to use, compile-time type-safe Go packages. It operates on plain [Ethereum contract ABIs](https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/develop/abi-spec.html) with expanded functionality if the contract bytecode is also available. However, it also accepts Solidity source files, making development much more streamlined. Please see our [Native DApps](https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/dapp/native-bindings) page for details. | 39 | `bootnode` | Stripped down version of our Ethereum client implementation that only takes part in the network node discovery protocol, but does not run any of the higher level application protocols. It can be used as a lightweight bootstrap node to aid in finding peers in private networks. | 40 | `evm` | Developer utility version of the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) that is capable of running bytecode snippets within a configurable environment and execution mode. Its purpose is to allow isolated, fine-grained debugging of EVM opcodes (e.g. `evm --code 60ff60ff --debug run`). | 41 | `gethrpctest` | Developer utility tool to support our [ethereum/rpc-test](https://github.com/ethereum/rpc-tests) test suite which validates baseline conformity to the [Ethereum JSON RPC](https://eth.wiki/json-rpc/API) specs. Please see the [test suite's readme](https://github.com/ethereum/rpc-tests/blob/master/README.md) for details. | 42 | `rlpdump` | Developer utility tool to convert binary RLP ([Recursive Length Prefix](https://eth.wiki/en/fundamentals/rlp)) dumps (data encoding used by the Ethereum protocol both network as well as consensus wise) to user-friendlier hierarchical representation (e.g. `rlpdump --hex CE0183FFFFFFC4C304050583616263`). | 43 | `puppeth` | a CLI wizard that aids in creating a new Ethereum network. | 44 45 ## Running `geth` 46 47 Going through all the possible command line flags is out of scope here (please consult our 48 [CLI Wiki page](https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/interface/command-line-options)), 49 but we've enumerated a few common parameter combos to get you up to speed quickly 50 on how you can run your own `geth` instance. 51 52 ### Full node on the main Ethereum network 53 54 By far the most common scenario is people wanting to simply interact with the Ethereum 55 network: create accounts; transfer funds; deploy and interact with contracts. For this 56 particular use-case the user doesn't care about years-old historical data, so we can 57 fast-sync quickly to the current state of the network. To do so: 58 59 ```shell 60 $ geth console 61 ``` 62 63 This command will: 64 65 - Start `geth` in fast sync mode (default, can be changed with the `--syncmode` flag), 66 causing it to download more data in exchange for avoiding processing the entire history 67 of the Ethereum network, which is very CPU intensive. 68 - Start up `geth`'s built-in interactive [JavaScript console](https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/interface/javascript-console), 69 (via the trailing `console` subcommand) through which you can invoke all official [`web3` methods](https://web3js.readthedocs.io/en/) 70 as well as `geth`'s own [management APIs](https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/rpc/server). 71 This tool is optional and if you leave it out you can always attach to an already running 72 `geth` instance with `geth attach`. 73 74 ### A Full node on the Görli test network 75 76 Transitioning towards developers, if you'd like to play around with creating Ethereum 77 contracts, you almost certainly would like to do that without any real money involved until 78 you get the hang of the entire system. In other words, instead of attaching to the main 79 network, you want to join the **test** network with your node, which is fully equivalent to 80 the main network, but with play-Ether only. 81 82 ```shell 83 $ geth --goerli console 84 ``` 85 86 The `console` subcommand has the exact same meaning as above and they are equally 87 useful on the testnet too. Please, see above for their explanations if you've skipped here. 88 89 Specifying the `--goerli` flag, however, will reconfigure your `geth` instance a bit: 90 91 - Instead of connecting the main Ethereum network, the client will connect to the Görli 92 test network, which uses different P2P bootnodes, different network IDs and genesis 93 states. 94 - Instead of using the default data directory (`~/.ethereum` on Linux for example), `geth` 95 will nest itself one level deeper into a `goerli` subfolder (`~/.ethereum/goerli` on 96 Linux). Note, on OSX and Linux this also means that attaching to a running testnet node 97 requires the use of a custom endpoint since `geth attach` will try to attach to a 98 production node endpoint by default, e.g., 99 `geth attach <datadir>/goerli/geth.ipc`. Windows users are not affected by 100 this. 101 102 _Note: Although there are some internal protective measures to prevent transactions from 103 crossing over between the main network and test network, you should make sure to always 104 use separate accounts for play-money and real-money. Unless you manually move 105 accounts, `geth` will by default correctly separate the two networks and will not make any 106 accounts available between them._ 107 108 ### Full node on the Rinkeby test network 109 110 Go Ethereum also supports connecting to the older proof-of-authority based test network 111 called [_Rinkeby_](https://www.rinkeby.io) which is operated by members of the community. 112 113 ```shell 114 $ geth --rinkeby console 115 ``` 116 117 ### Full node on the Ropsten test network 118 119 In addition to Görli and Rinkeby, Geth also supports the ancient Ropsten testnet. The 120 Ropsten test network is based on the Ethash proof-of-work consensus algorithm. As such, 121 it has certain extra overhead and is more susceptible to reorganization attacks due to the 122 network's low difficulty/security. 123 124 ```shell 125 $ geth --ropsten console 126 ``` 127 128 _Note: Older Geth configurations store the Ropsten database in the `testnet` subdirectory._ 129 130 ### Configuration 131 132 As an alternative to passing the numerous flags to the `geth` binary, you can also pass a 133 configuration file via: 134 135 ```shell 136 $ geth --config /path/to/your_config.toml 137 ``` 138 139 To get an idea how the file should look like you can use the `dumpconfig` subcommand to 140 export your existing configuration: 141 142 ```shell 143 $ geth --your-favourite-flags dumpconfig 144 ``` 145 146 _Note: This works only with `geth` v1.6.0 and above._ 147 148 #### Docker quick start 149 150 One of the quickest ways to get Ethereum up and running on your machine is by using 151 Docker: 152 153 ```shell 154 docker run -d --name ethereum-node -v /Users/alice/ethereum:/root \ 155 -p 8545:8545 -p 30303:30303 \ 156 ethereum/client-go 157 ``` 158 159 This will start `geth` in fast-sync mode with a DB memory allowance of 1GB just as the 160 above command does. It will also create a persistent volume in your home directory for 161 saving your blockchain as well as map the default ports. There is also an `alpine` tag 162 available for a slim version of the image. 163 164 Do not forget `--http.addr 0.0.0.0`, if you want to access RPC from other containers 165 and/or hosts. By default, `geth` binds to the local interface and RPC endpoints is not 166 accessible from the outside. 167 168 ### Programmatically interfacing `geth` nodes 169 170 As a developer, sooner rather than later you'll want to start interacting with `geth` and the 171 Ethereum network via your own programs and not manually through the console. To aid 172 this, `geth` has built-in support for a JSON-RPC based APIs ([standard APIs](https://eth.wiki/json-rpc/API) 173 and [`geth` specific APIs](https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/rpc/server)). 174 These can be exposed via HTTP, WebSockets and IPC (UNIX sockets on UNIX based 175 platforms, and named pipes on Windows). 176 177 The IPC interface is enabled by default and exposes all the APIs supported by `geth`, 178 whereas the HTTP and WS interfaces need to manually be enabled and only expose a 179 subset of APIs due to security reasons. These can be turned on/off and configured as 180 you'd expect. 181 182 HTTP based JSON-RPC API options: 183 184 - `--http` Enable the HTTP-RPC server 185 - `--http.addr` HTTP-RPC server listening interface (default: `localhost`) 186 - `--http.port` HTTP-RPC server listening port (default: `8545`) 187 - `--http.api` API's offered over the HTTP-RPC interface (default: `eth,net,web3`) 188 - `--http.corsdomain` Comma separated list of domains from which to accept cross origin requests (browser enforced) 189 - `--ws` Enable the WS-RPC server 190 - `--ws.addr` WS-RPC server listening interface (default: `localhost`) 191 - `--ws.port` WS-RPC server listening port (default: `8546`) 192 - `--ws.api` API's offered over the WS-RPC interface (default: `eth,net,web3`) 193 - `--ws.origins` Origins from which to accept websockets requests 194 - `--ipcdisable` Disable the IPC-RPC server 195 - `--ipcapi` API's offered over the IPC-RPC interface (default: `admin,debug,eth,miner,net,personal,shh,txpool,web3`) 196 - `--ipcpath` Filename for IPC socket/pipe within the datadir (explicit paths escape it) 197 198 You'll need to use your own programming environments' capabilities (libraries, tools, etc) to 199 connect via HTTP, WS or IPC to a `geth` node configured with the above flags and you'll 200 need to speak [JSON-RPC](https://www.jsonrpc.org/specification) on all transports. You 201 can reuse the same connection for multiple requests! 202 203 **Note: Please understand the security implications of opening up an HTTP/WS based 204 transport before doing so! Hackers on the internet are actively trying to subvert 205 Ethereum nodes with exposed APIs! Further, all browser tabs can access locally 206 running web servers, so malicious web pages could try to subvert locally available 207 APIs!** 208 209 ### Operating a private network 210 211 Maintaining your own private network is more involved as a lot of configurations taken for 212 granted in the official networks need to be manually set up. 213 214 #### Defining the private genesis state 215 216 First, you'll need to create the genesis state of your networks, which all nodes need to be 217 aware of and agree upon. This consists of a small JSON file (e.g. call it `genesis.json`): 218 219 ```json 220 { 221 "config": { 222 "chainId": <arbitrary positive integer>, 223 "homesteadBlock": 0, 224 "eip150Block": 0, 225 "eip155Block": 0, 226 "eip158Block": 0, 227 "byzantiumBlock": 0, 228 "constantinopleBlock": 0, 229 "petersburgBlock": 0, 230 "istanbulBlock": 0 231 }, 232 "alloc": {}, 233 "coinbase": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000", 234 "difficulty": "0x20000", 235 "extraData": "", 236 "gasLimit": "0x2fefd8", 237 "nonce": "0x0000000000000042", 238 "mixhash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", 239 "parentHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", 240 "timestamp": "0x00" 241 } 242 ``` 243 244 The above fields should be fine for most purposes, although we'd recommend changing 245 the `nonce` to some random value so you prevent unknown remote nodes from being able 246 to connect to you. If you'd like to pre-fund some accounts for easier testing, create 247 the accounts and populate the `alloc` field with their addresses. 248 249 ```json 250 "alloc": { 251 "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000001": { 252 "balance": "111111111" 253 }, 254 "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000002": { 255 "balance": "222222222" 256 } 257 } 258 ``` 259 260 With the genesis state defined in the above JSON file, you'll need to initialize **every** 261 `geth` node with it prior to starting it up to ensure all blockchain parameters are correctly 262 set: 263 264 ```shell 265 $ geth init path/to/genesis.json 266 ``` 267 268 #### Creating the rendezvous point 269 270 With all nodes that you want to run initialized to the desired genesis state, you'll need to 271 start a bootstrap node that others can use to find each other in your network and/or over 272 the internet. The clean way is to configure and run a dedicated bootnode: 273 274 ```shell 275 $ bootnode --genkey=boot.key 276 $ bootnode --nodekey=boot.key 277 ``` 278 279 With the bootnode online, it will display an [`enode` URL](https://eth.wiki/en/fundamentals/enode-url-format) 280 that other nodes can use to connect to it and exchange peer information. Make sure to 281 replace the displayed IP address information (most probably `[::]`) with your externally 282 accessible IP to get the actual `enode` URL. 283 284 _Note: You could also use a full-fledged `geth` node as a bootnode, but it's the less 285 recommended way._ 286 287 #### Starting up your member nodes 288 289 With the bootnode operational and externally reachable (you can try 290 `telnet <ip> <port>` to ensure it's indeed reachable), start every subsequent `geth` 291 node pointed to the bootnode for peer discovery via the `--bootnodes` flag. It will 292 probably also be desirable to keep the data directory of your private network separated, so 293 do also specify a custom `--datadir` flag. 294 295 ```shell 296 $ geth --datadir=path/to/custom/data/folder --bootnodes=<bootnode-enode-url-from-above> 297 ``` 298 299 _Note: Since your network will be completely cut off from the main and test networks, you'll 300 also need to configure a miner to process transactions and create new blocks for you._ 301 302 #### Running a private miner 303 304 Mining on the public Ethereum network is a complex task as it's only feasible using GPUs, 305 requiring an OpenCL or CUDA enabled `ethminer` instance. For information on such a 306 setup, please consult the [EtherMining subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/EtherMining/) 307 and the [ethminer](https://github.com/ethereum-mining/ethminer) repository. 308 309 In a private network setting, however a single CPU miner instance is more than enough for 310 practical purposes as it can produce a stable stream of blocks at the correct intervals 311 without needing heavy resources (consider running on a single thread, no need for multiple 312 ones either). To start a `geth` instance for mining, run it with all your usual flags, extended 313 by: 314 315 ```shell 316 $ geth <usual-flags> --mine --miner.threads=1 --miner.etherbase=0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 317 ``` 318 319 Which will start mining blocks and transactions on a single CPU thread, crediting all 320 proceedings to the account specified by `--miner.etherbase`. You can further tune the mining 321 by changing the default gas limit blocks converge to (`--miner.targetgaslimit`) and the price 322 transactions are accepted at (`--miner.gasprice`). 323 324 ## Contribution 325 326 Thank you for considering to help out with the source code! We welcome contributions 327 from anyone on the internet, and are grateful for even the smallest of fixes! 328 329 If you'd like to contribute to go-ethereum, please fork, fix, commit and send a pull request 330 for the maintainers to review and merge into the main code base. If you wish to submit 331 more complex changes though, please check up with the core devs first on [our gitter channel](https://gitter.im/ethereum/go-ethereum) 332 to ensure those changes are in line with the general philosophy of the project and/or get 333 some early feedback which can make both your efforts much lighter as well as our review 334 and merge procedures quick and simple. 335 336 Please make sure your contributions adhere to our coding guidelines: 337 338 - Code must adhere to the official Go [formatting](https://golang.org/doc/effective_go.html#formatting) 339 guidelines (i.e. uses [gofmt](https://golang.org/cmd/gofmt/)). 340 - Code must be documented adhering to the official Go [commentary](https://golang.org/doc/effective_go.html#commentary) 341 guidelines. 342 - Pull requests need to be based on and opened against the `master` branch. 343 - Commit messages should be prefixed with the package(s) they modify. 344 - E.g. "eth, rpc: make trace configs optional" 345 346 Please see the [Developers' Guide](https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/developers/devguide) 347 for more details on configuring your environment, managing project dependencies, and 348 testing procedures. 349 350 ## License 351 352 The go-ethereum library (i.e. all code outside of the `cmd` directory) is licensed under the 353 [GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.en.html), 354 also included in our repository in the `COPYING.LESSER` file. 355 356 The go-ethereum binaries (i.e. all code inside of the `cmd` directory) is licensed under the 357 [GNU General Public License v3.0](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html), also 358 included in our repository in the `COPYING` file.