Compiling and Running a Node

Since this is still an early phase, we will not be installing any of the software system-wide. Instead, we'll be running all the commands from the git repository, so we're able to easily pull any necessary updates.

Please read the whole document first before executing commands, to understand all the steps required and how each component operates. Unless instructed otherwise, each daemon exists/runs on its own shell, so don't stop a running one to start another. We also strongly suggest to first execute next guide steps on a local environment to become familiar with each command, before broadcasting transactions to the actual network.

Compiling

Refer to the main DarkFi page for instructions on how to install Rust and necessary deps.

Once you have the repository in place, and everything is installed, we can compile the darkfid node and the drk wallet CLI:

$ make darkfid drk

This process will now compile the node and the wallet CLI tool. When finished, we can begin using the network. Run darkfid and drk once so their config files are spawned on your system. This config files will be used by darkfid and drk in order to configure themselves. The defaults are already preset for using the testnet network.

$ ./darkfid
Config file created in "~/.config/darkfi/darkfid_config.toml". Please review it and try again.
$ ./drk wallet --address
Config file created in "~/.config/darkfi/drk_config.toml". Please review it and try again.

Running

Wallet initialization

Now it's time to initialize your wallet. For this we use a separate wallet CLI which is created to interface with the smart contract used for payments and swaps.

We simply have to initialize a wallet, and create a keypair:

$ ./drk wallet --initialize
$ ./drk wallet --keygen
$ ./drk wallet --default-address 1

The second command will print out your new DarkFi address where you can receive payments. Take note of it. Alternatively, you can always retrieve your default address using:

$ ./drk wallet --address

Miner

If you want to help secure the network, you can participate in the mining process, by running the native minerd mining daemon. First, compile it:

$ make minerd

This process will now compile the mining daemon. When finished, run minerd once so that it spawns its config file on your system. This config file will be used by minerd in order to configure itself.

$ ./minerd
Config file created in "~/.config/darkfi/minerd_config.toml". Please review it and try again.

Once that's in place, you can run it again and minerd will start, waiting for requests to mine blocks.

$ ./minerd

You now have to configure darkfid to use your wallet address as the rewards recipient, when submitting blocks to minerd to mine. Open your config file with your editor of choice (default path is ~/.config/darkfi/darkfid_config.toml) and find the recipient option under the network configuration you will operate on (for testnet it is [network_config."testnet"]). Uncomment it by removing the # character at the start of line, and replace the YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS_HERE string with your wallet address.

# Enable this to mine
miner = true
# Put the address from `drk wallet --address` here
recipient = "..."

Darkfid

Now that darkfid configuration is in place, you can run it again and darkfid will start, create the necessary keys for validation of blocks and transactions, and begin syncing the blockchain. Keep it running, and you should see a Blockchain synced! message after some time.

$ ./darkfid

Wallet sync

In order to receive incoming coins, you'll need to use the drk tool to subscribe on darkfid so you can receive notifications for incoming blocks. The blocks have to be scanned for transactions, and to find coins that are intended for you. In another terminal, you can run the following commands to first scan the blockchain, and then to subscribe to new blocks:

$ ./drk scan
$ ./drk subscribe

Now you can leave the subscriber running. In case you stop it, just run drk scan again until the chain is fully scanned, and then you should be able to subscribe again.

Local Deployment

For development we recommend running master, and use the existing contrib/localnet/darkfid-single-node folder, which provides the corresponding configurations to operate.

First, compile darkfid node, minerd mining daemon and the drk wallet CLI:

$ make darkfid minerd drk

Enter the localnet folder, and initialize a wallet:

$ cd contrib/localnet/darkfid-single-node/
$ ./init-wallet.sh

Then start darkfid and wait until its initialized:

$ ./tmux_sessions.sh

After some blocks have been generated we will see some DRK in our test wallet. On a different shell(or tmux pane in the session), navigate to contrib/localnet/darkfid-single-node folder again and check wallet balance

$ ./wallet-balance.sh

Don't forget that when using this local node, all operations should be executed inside the contrib/localnet/darkfid-single-node folder, and ./drk command to be replaced by ../../../drk -c drk.toml

Advanced Usage

To run a node in full debug mode:

$ LOG_TARGETS='!sled,!rustls,!net' ./darkfid -vv | tee /tmp/darkfid.log

The sled and net targets are very noisy and slow down the node so we disable those.

We can now view the log, and grep through it.

$ tail -n +0 -f /tmp/darkfid.log | grep -a --line-buffered -v DEBUG