• Stars
    star
    724
  • Rank 62,593 (Top 2 %)
  • Language
    Go
  • License
    ISC License
  • Created almost 9 years ago
  • Updated 8 months ago

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first to send feedback to the community and the maintainers!

Repository Details

Decred daemon in Go (golang).

dcrd

Build Status ISC License Doc Go Report Card

Decred Overview

Decred is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency with a strong focus on community input, open governance, and sustainable funding for development. It utilizes a hybrid proof-of-work and proof-of-stake mining system to ensure that a small group cannot dominate the flow of transactions or make changes to Decred without the input of the community. A unit of the currency is called a decred (DCR).

https://decred.org

Latest Downloads

https://decred.org/downloads/

Core software:

  • dcrd: a Decred full node daemon (this)
  • dcrwallet: a CLI Decred wallet daemon
  • dcrctl: a CLI client for dcrd and dcrwallet

Bundles:

What is dcrd?

dcrd is a full node implementation of Decred written in Go (golang).

It acts as a fully-validating chain daemon for the Decred cryptocurrency. dcrd maintains the entire past transactional ledger of Decred and allows relaying of transactions to other Decred nodes around the world.

This software is currently under active development. It is extremely stable and has been in production use since February 2016.

It important to note that dcrd does NOT include wallet functionality. Users who desire a wallet will need to use dcrwallet(CLI) or Decrediton(GUI).

What is a full node?

The term 'full node' is short for 'fully-validating node' and refers to software that fully validates all transactions and blocks, as opposed to trusting a 3rd party. In addition to validating transactions and blocks, nearly all full nodes also participate in relaying transactions and blocks to other full nodes around the world, thus forming the peer-to-peer network that is the backbone of the Decred cryptocurrency.

The full node distinction is important, since full nodes are not the only type of software participating in the Decred peer network. For instance, there are 'lightweight nodes' which rely on full nodes to serve the transactions, blocks, and cryptographic proofs they require to function, as well as relay their transactions to the rest of the global network.

Why run dcrd?

As described in the previous section, the Decred cryptocurrency relies on having a peer-to-peer network of nodes that fully validate all transactions and blocks and then relay them to other full nodes.

Running a full node with dcrd contributes to the overall security of the network, increases the available paths for transactions and blocks to relay, and helps ensure there are an adequate number of nodes available to serve lightweight clients, such as Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) wallets.

Without enough full nodes, the network could be unable to expediently serve users of lightweight clients which could force them to have to rely on centralized services that significantly reduce privacy and are vulnerable to censorship.

In terms of individual benefits, since dcrd fully validates every block and transaction, it provides the highest security and privacy possible when used in conjunction with a wallet that also supports directly connecting to it in full validation mode, such as dcrwallet (CLI) and Decrediton (GUI). It is also ideal for businesses and services that need the most reliable and accurate data about transactions.

Minimum Recommended Specifications (dcrd only)

  • 16 GB disk space (as of April 2022, increases over time, ~2 GB/yr)
  • 2 GB memory (RAM)
  • ~150 MB/day download, ~1.5 GB/day upload
    • Plus one-time initial download of the entire block chain
  • Windows 10 (server preferred), macOS, Linux
  • High uptime

Getting Started

So, you've decided to help the network by running a full node. Great! Running dcrd is simple. All you need to do is install dcrd on a machine that is connected to the internet and meets the minimum recommended specifications, and launch it.

Also, make sure your firewall is configured to allow inbound connections to port 9108.

Installing and updating

Binaries (Windows/Linux/macOS)

Binary releases are provided for common operating systems and architectures. The easiest method is to download Decrediton from the link below, which will include dcrd. Advanced users may prefer the Command-line app suite, which includes dcrd and dcrwallet.

https://decred.org/downloads/

Build from source (all platforms)

Install Dependencies
  • Go 1.19 or 1.20

    Installation instructions can be found here: https://golang.org/doc/install. Ensure Go was installed properly and is a supported version:

    $ go version
    $ go env GOROOT GOPATH

    NOTE: GOROOT and GOPATH must not be on the same path. Since Go 1.8 (2016), GOROOT and GOPATH are set automatically, and you do not need to change them. However, you still need to add $GOPATH/bin to your PATH in order to run binaries installed by go get and go install (On Windows, this happens automatically).

    Unix example -- add these lines to .profile:

    PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin"  # main Go binaries ($GOROOT/bin)
    PATH="$PATH:$HOME/go/bin"       # installed Go projects ($GOPATH/bin)
    
  • Git

    Installation instructions can be found at https://git-scm.com or https://gitforwindows.org.

    $ git version
Windows Example
PS> git clone https://github.com/decred/dcrd $env:USERPROFILE\src\dcrd
PS> cd $env:USERPROFILE\src\dcrd
PS> go install . .\cmd\...
PS> dcrd -V

Run the dcrd executable now installed in "$(go env GOPATH)\bin".

Unix Example

This assumes you have already added $GOPATH/bin to your $PATH as described in dependencies.

$ git clone https://github.com/decred/dcrd $HOME/src/dcrd
$ git clone https://github.com/decred/dcrctl $HOME/src/dcrctl
$ (cd $HOME/src/dcrd && go install . ./...)
$ (cd $HOME/src/dcrctl && go install)
$ dcrd -V

Run the dcrd executable now installed in $GOPATH/bin.

Building and Running OCI Containers (aka Docker/Podman)

The project does not officially provide container images. However, all of the necessary files to build your own lightweight non-root container image based on scratch from the latest source code are available in contrib/docker.

It is also worth noting that, to date, most users typically prefer to run dcrd directly, without using a container, for at least a few reasons:

  • dcrd is a static binary that does not require root privileges and therefore does not suffer from the usual deployment issues that typically make containers attractive
  • It is harder and more verbose to run dcrd from a container as compared to normal:
    • dcrd is designed to automatically create a working default configuration which means it just works out of the box without the need for additional configuration for almost all typical users
    • The blockchain data and configuration files need to be persistent which means configuring and managing a docker data volume
    • Running non-root containers with docker requires special care in regards to permissions

Running Tests

All tests and linters may be run using the script run_tests.sh. Generally, Decred only supports the current and previous major versions of Go.

./run_tests.sh

Contact

If you have any further questions you can find us at:

https://decred.org/community/

Issue Tracker

The integrated github issue tracker is used for this project.

Documentation

The documentation for dcrd is a work-in-progress. It is located in the docs folder.

License

dcrd is licensed under the copyfree ISC License.

More Repositories

1

atomicswap

On-chain atomic swaps for Decred and other cryptocurrencies.
Go
505
star
2

dcrwallet

A secure Decred wallet daemon written in Go (golang).
Go
207
star
3

decrediton

Cross-platform GUI for Decred.
JavaScript
195
star
4

dcrdex

The Decred Decentralized Exchange (DEX), powered by atomic-swaps.
Go
186
star
5

dcrdata

Decred block explorer, with packages and apps for data collection and storage. Written in Go.
Go
129
star
6

politeia

Go
110
star
7

decred-release

Decred binary releases.
Go
86
star
8

dcrdocs

Documentation for Decred.
Shell
81
star
9

dcrstakepool

Stakepool for Decred.
Go
73
star
10

politeiagui

JavaScript
62
star
11

dcraddrgen

dcraddrgen is a simple offline address generator for Decred.
Go
60
star
12

decred-binaries

Binary archives for Decred releases.
56
star
13

dcps

Decred Change Proposals (DCPs).
40
star
14

dcrweb

Decred website code.
SCSS
37
star
15

cspp

Decred CoinShuffle++
Go
33
star
16

dcrpool

decred mining pool
Go
31
star
17

dcrtime

Decred anchored timestamp client, proxy, and server.
Go
28
star
18

tinydecred

Python tools for Decred
Python
27
star
19

vspd

A Voting Service Provider (VSP) for the Decred network.
Go
19
star
20

dcrwebapi

Go
18
star
21

dcrtimegui

Timestamp files with blockchain
JavaScript
15
star
22

dcrdesign

Decred Design System
15
star
23

pi-ui

Politeia UI library
JavaScript
14
star
24

contractor-mgmt

Contractor management system written in Go that uses politeiad as a backend
Go
12
star
25

tumblebit

Go
11
star
26

dcrseeder

Decred Seeder
Go
11
star
27

dcrros

Go
10
star
28

dcrdocker

Dockerfiles for Decred.
10
star
29

decred-php-api

PHP API for the Decred Cryptocurrency
PHP
9
star
30

umbrel-app-store

8
star
31

dcrpayments

mono repo that houses various libraries/utilities for accepting Decred payments
PHP
8
star
32

base58

Go
7
star
33

RFPs

Decred Request For Proposals (RFPs).
7
star
34

dcrvotingweb

Demo for Decred hard fork voting.
CSS
6
star
35

dcrdevdocs

Decred Development Documentation
Shell
5
star
36

dcraddrscanner

Kotlin
5
star
37

dcrlnlpd

Go
5
star
38

release

Go
4
star
39

decred-magento-plugin

Decred API for Magento
PHP
4
star
40

dexweb

HTML
3
star
41

testnetfaucet

Decred testnet faucet.
Go
3
star
42

dcrbounty

SCSS
3
star
43

dcrctl

Command-line client for interacting with the JSON-RPC servers of dcrd and dcrwallet
Go
3
star
44

haste

2
star
45

cmsgui

JavaScript
2
star
46

dcrtest

Go
2
star
47

dcrdex-assets

static assets for dcrdex
Go
1
star
48

dcrblog

Decred Blog
SCSS
1
star