github.com/mrwater98/go-ethereum@v1.9.7/README.md (about) 1 ## Go Ethereum 2 3 Official Golang implementation of the Ethereum protocol. 4 5 [](https://godoc.org/github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum) 8 [](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum) 9 [](https://travis-ci.org/ethereum/go-ethereum) 10 [](https://discord.gg/nthXNEv) 11 12 Automated builds are available for stable releases and the unstable master branch. Binary 13 archives are published at https://geth.ethereum.org/downloads/. 14 15 ## Building the source 16 17 For prerequisites and detailed build instructions please read the [Installation Instructions](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Building-Ethereum) on the wiki. 18 19 Building `geth` requires both a Go (version 1.10 or later) and a C compiler. You can install 20 them using your favourite package manager. Once the dependencies are installed, run 21 22 ```shell 23 make geth 24 ``` 25 26 or, to build the full suite of utilities: 27 28 ```shell 29 make all 30 ``` 31 32 ## Executables 33 34 The go-ethereum project comes with several wrappers/executables found in the `cmd` 35 directory. 36 37 | Command | Description | 38 | :-----------: | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 39 | **`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 Wiki page](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Command-Line-Options) for command line options. | 40 | `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://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/Ethereum-Contract-ABI) 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://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Native-DApps:-Go-bindings-to-Ethereum-contracts) wiki page for details. | 41 | `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. | 42 | `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`). | 43 | `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://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/JSON-RPC) specs. Please see the [test suite's readme](https://github.com/ethereum/rpc-tests/blob/master/README.md) for details. | 44 | `rlpdump` | Developer utility tool to convert binary RLP ([Recursive Length Prefix](https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/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`). | 45 | `puppeth` | a CLI wizard that aids in creating a new Ethereum network. | 46 47 ## Running `geth` 48 49 Going through all the possible command line flags is out of scope here (please consult our 50 [CLI Wiki page](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Command-Line-Options)), 51 but we've enumerated a few common parameter combos to get you up to speed quickly 52 on how you can run your own `geth` instance. 53 54 ### Full node on the main Ethereum network 55 56 By far the most common scenario is people wanting to simply interact with the Ethereum 57 network: create accounts; transfer funds; deploy and interact with contracts. For this 58 particular use-case the user doesn't care about years-old historical data, so we can 59 fast-sync quickly to the current state of the network. To do so: 60 61 ```shell 62 $ geth console 63 ``` 64 65 This command will: 66 * Start `geth` in fast sync mode (default, can be changed with the `--syncmode` flag), 67 causing it to download more data in exchange for avoiding processing the entire history 68 of the Ethereum network, which is very CPU intensive. 69 * Start up `geth`'s built-in interactive [JavaScript console](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/JavaScript-Console), 70 (via the trailing `console` subcommand) through which you can invoke all official [`web3` methods](https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/JavaScript-API) 71 as well as `geth`'s own [management APIs](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Management-APIs). 72 This tool is optional and if you leave it out you can always attach to an already running 73 `geth` instance with `geth attach`. 74 75 ### A Full node on the Ethereum test network 76 77 Transitioning towards developers, if you'd like to play around with creating Ethereum 78 contracts, you almost certainly would like to do that without any real money involved until 79 you get the hang of the entire system. In other words, instead of attaching to the main 80 network, you want to join the **test** network with your node, which is fully equivalent to 81 the main network, but with play-Ether only. 82 83 ```shell 84 $ geth --testnet console 85 ``` 86 87 The `console` subcommand has the exact same meaning as above and they are equally 88 useful on the testnet too. Please see above for their explanations if you've skipped here. 89 90 Specifying the `--testnet` flag, however, will reconfigure your `geth` instance a bit: 91 92 * Instead of using the default data directory (`~/.ethereum` on Linux for example), `geth` 93 will nest itself one level deeper into a `testnet` subfolder (`~/.ethereum/testnet` on 94 Linux). Note, on OSX and Linux this also means that attaching to a running testnet node 95 requires the use of a custom endpoint since `geth attach` will try to attach to a 96 production node endpoint by default. E.g. 97 `geth attach <datadir>/testnet/geth.ipc`. Windows users are not affected by 98 this. 99 * Instead of connecting the main Ethereum network, the client will connect to the test 100 network, which uses different P2P bootnodes, different network IDs and genesis states. 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 The above test network is a cross-client one based on the ethash proof-of-work consensus 111 algorithm. As such, it has certain extra overhead and is more susceptible to reorganization 112 attacks due to the network's low difficulty/security. Go Ethereum also supports connecting 113 to a proof-of-authority based test network called [*Rinkeby*](https://www.rinkeby.io) 114 (operated by members of the community). This network is lighter, more secure, but is only 115 supported by go-ethereum. 116 117 ```shell 118 $ geth --rinkeby console 119 ``` 120 121 ### Configuration 122 123 As an alternative to passing the numerous flags to the `geth` binary, you can also pass a 124 configuration file via: 125 126 ```shell 127 $ geth --config /path/to/your_config.toml 128 ``` 129 130 To get an idea how the file should look like you can use the `dumpconfig` subcommand to 131 export your existing configuration: 132 133 ```shell 134 $ geth --your-favourite-flags dumpconfig 135 ``` 136 137 *Note: This works only with `geth` v1.6.0 and above.* 138 139 #### Docker quick start 140 141 One of the quickest ways to get Ethereum up and running on your machine is by using 142 Docker: 143 144 ```shell 145 docker run -d --name ethereum-node -v /Users/alice/ethereum:/root \ 146 -p 8545:8545 -p 30303:30303 \ 147 ethereum/client-go 148 ``` 149 150 This will start `geth` in fast-sync mode with a DB memory allowance of 1GB just as the 151 above command does. It will also create a persistent volume in your home directory for 152 saving your blockchain as well as map the default ports. There is also an `alpine` tag 153 available for a slim version of the image. 154 155 Do not forget `--rpcaddr 0.0.0.0`, if you want to access RPC from other containers 156 and/or hosts. By default, `geth` binds to the local interface and RPC endpoints is not 157 accessible from the outside. 158 159 ### Programmatically interfacing `geth` nodes 160 161 As a developer, sooner rather than later you'll want to start interacting with `geth` and the 162 Ethereum network via your own programs and not manually through the console. To aid 163 this, `geth` has built-in support for a JSON-RPC based APIs ([standard APIs](https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/JSON-RPC) 164 and [`geth` specific APIs](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Management-APIs)). 165 These can be exposed via HTTP, WebSockets and IPC (UNIX sockets on UNIX based 166 platforms, and named pipes on Windows). 167 168 The IPC interface is enabled by default and exposes all the APIs supported by `geth`, 169 whereas the HTTP and WS interfaces need to manually be enabled and only expose a 170 subset of APIs due to security reasons. These can be turned on/off and configured as 171 you'd expect. 172 173 HTTP based JSON-RPC API options: 174 175 * `--rpc` Enable the HTTP-RPC server 176 * `--rpcaddr` HTTP-RPC server listening interface (default: `localhost`) 177 * `--rpcport` HTTP-RPC server listening port (default: `8545`) 178 * `--rpcapi` API's offered over the HTTP-RPC interface (default: `eth,net,web3`) 179 * `--rpccorsdomain` Comma separated list of domains from which to accept cross origin requests (browser enforced) 180 * `--ws` Enable the WS-RPC server 181 * `--wsaddr` WS-RPC server listening interface (default: `localhost`) 182 * `--wsport` WS-RPC server listening port (default: `8546`) 183 * `--wsapi` API's offered over the WS-RPC interface (default: `eth,net,web3`) 184 * `--wsorigins` Origins from which to accept websockets requests 185 * `--ipcdisable` Disable the IPC-RPC server 186 * `--ipcapi` API's offered over the IPC-RPC interface (default: `admin,debug,eth,miner,net,personal,shh,txpool,web3`) 187 * `--ipcpath` Filename for IPC socket/pipe within the datadir (explicit paths escape it) 188 189 You'll need to use your own programming environments' capabilities (libraries, tools, etc) to 190 connect via HTTP, WS or IPC to a `geth` node configured with the above flags and you'll 191 need to speak [JSON-RPC](https://www.jsonrpc.org/specification) on all transports. You 192 can reuse the same connection for multiple requests! 193 194 **Note: Please understand the security implications of opening up an HTTP/WS based 195 transport before doing so! Hackers on the internet are actively trying to subvert 196 Ethereum nodes with exposed APIs! Further, all browser tabs can access locally 197 running web servers, so malicious web pages could try to subvert locally available 198 APIs!** 199 200 ### Operating a private network 201 202 Maintaining your own private network is more involved as a lot of configurations taken for 203 granted in the official networks need to be manually set up. 204 205 #### Defining the private genesis state 206 207 First, you'll need to create the genesis state of your networks, which all nodes need to be 208 aware of and agree upon. This consists of a small JSON file (e.g. call it `genesis.json`): 209 210 ```json 211 { 212 "config": { 213 "chainId": <arbitrary positive integer>, 214 "homesteadBlock": 0, 215 "eip150Block": 0, 216 "eip155Block": 0, 217 "eip158Block": 0, 218 "byzantiumBlock": 0, 219 "constantinopleBlock": 0, 220 "petersburgBlock": 0 221 }, 222 "alloc": {}, 223 "coinbase": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000", 224 "difficulty": "0x20000", 225 "extraData": "", 226 "gasLimit": "0x2fefd8", 227 "nonce": "0x0000000000000042", 228 "mixhash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", 229 "parentHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", 230 "timestamp": "0x00" 231 } 232 ``` 233 234 The above fields should be fine for most purposes, although we'd recommend changing 235 the `nonce` to some random value so you prevent unknown remote nodes from being able 236 to connect to you. If you'd like to pre-fund some accounts for easier testing, create 237 the accounts and populate the `alloc` field with their addresses. 238 239 ```json 240 "alloc": { 241 "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000001": { 242 "balance": "111111111" 243 }, 244 "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000002": { 245 "balance": "222222222" 246 } 247 } 248 ``` 249 250 With the genesis state defined in the above JSON file, you'll need to initialize **every** 251 `geth` node with it prior to starting it up to ensure all blockchain parameters are correctly 252 set: 253 254 ```shell 255 $ geth init path/to/genesis.json 256 ``` 257 258 #### Creating the rendezvous point 259 260 With all nodes that you want to run initialized to the desired genesis state, you'll need to 261 start a bootstrap node that others can use to find each other in your network and/or over 262 the internet. The clean way is to configure and run a dedicated bootnode: 263 264 ```shell 265 $ bootnode --genkey=boot.key 266 $ bootnode --nodekey=boot.key 267 ``` 268 269 With the bootnode online, it will display an [`enode` URL](https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/enode-url-format) 270 that other nodes can use to connect to it and exchange peer information. Make sure to 271 replace the displayed IP address information (most probably `[::]`) with your externally 272 accessible IP to get the actual `enode` URL. 273 274 *Note: You could also use a full-fledged `geth` node as a bootnode, but it's the less 275 recommended way.* 276 277 #### Starting up your member nodes 278 279 With the bootnode operational and externally reachable (you can try 280 `telnet <ip> <port>` to ensure it's indeed reachable), start every subsequent `geth` 281 node pointed to the bootnode for peer discovery via the `--bootnodes` flag. It will 282 probably also be desirable to keep the data directory of your private network separated, so 283 do also specify a custom `--datadir` flag. 284 285 ```shell 286 $ geth --datadir=path/to/custom/data/folder --bootnodes=<bootnode-enode-url-from-above> 287 ``` 288 289 *Note: Since your network will be completely cut off from the main and test networks, you'll 290 also need to configure a miner to process transactions and create new blocks for you.* 291 292 #### Running a private miner 293 294 Mining on the public Ethereum network is a complex task as it's only feasible using GPUs, 295 requiring an OpenCL or CUDA enabled `ethminer` instance. For information on such a 296 setup, please consult the [EtherMining subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/EtherMining/) 297 and the [Genoil miner](https://github.com/Genoil/cpp-ethereum) repository. 298 299 In a private network setting, however a single CPU miner instance is more than enough for 300 practical purposes as it can produce a stable stream of blocks at the correct intervals 301 without needing heavy resources (consider running on a single thread, no need for multiple 302 ones either). To start a `geth` instance for mining, run it with all your usual flags, extended 303 by: 304 305 ```shell 306 $ geth <usual-flags> --mine --miner.threads=1 --etherbase=0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 307 ``` 308 309 Which will start mining blocks and transactions on a single CPU thread, crediting all 310 proceedings to the account specified by `--etherbase`. You can further tune the mining 311 by changing the default gas limit blocks converge to (`--targetgaslimit`) and the price 312 transactions are accepted at (`--gasprice`). 313 314 ## Contribution 315 316 Thank you for considering to help out with the source code! We welcome contributions 317 from anyone on the internet, and are grateful for even the smallest of fixes! 318 319 If you'd like to contribute to go-ethereum, please fork, fix, commit and send a pull request 320 for the maintainers to review and merge into the main code base. If you wish to submit 321 more complex changes though, please check up with the core devs first on [our gitter channel](https://gitter.im/ethereum/go-ethereum) 322 to ensure those changes are in line with the general philosophy of the project and/or get 323 some early feedback which can make both your efforts much lighter as well as our review 324 and merge procedures quick and simple. 325 326 Please make sure your contributions adhere to our coding guidelines: 327 328 * Code must adhere to the official Go [formatting](https://golang.org/doc/effective_go.html#formatting) 329 guidelines (i.e. uses [gofmt](https://golang.org/cmd/gofmt/)). 330 * Code must be documented adhering to the official Go [commentary](https://golang.org/doc/effective_go.html#commentary) 331 guidelines. 332 * Pull requests need to be based on and opened against the `master` branch. 333 * Commit messages should be prefixed with the package(s) they modify. 334 * E.g. "eth, rpc: make trace configs optional" 335 336 Please see the [Developers' Guide](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Developers'-Guide) 337 for more details on configuring your environment, managing project dependencies, and 338 testing procedures. 339 340 ## License 341 342 The go-ethereum library (i.e. all code outside of the `cmd` directory) is licensed under the 343 [GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.en.html), 344 also included in our repository in the `COPYING.LESSER` file. 345 346 The go-ethereum binaries (i.e. all code inside of the `cmd` directory) is licensed under the 347 [GNU General Public License v3.0](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html), also 348 included in our repository in the `COPYING` file.