Filecoin (go-filecoin)

The original Filecoin node implementation in Go.

Questions or problems with go-filecoin? Ask the community first. Your problem may already be solved.

Table of Contents

• What is Filecoin?
• Install
  • System Requirements
  • Install from Source
    • Install Go
    • Install Dependencies
    • Build and run tests
• Usage
  • Advanced usage
    • Setting up a localnet
• Contributing
• Community
• License

What is Filecoin?

Filecoin is a decentralized storage network that turns the world’s unused storage into an algorithmic market, creating a permanent, decentralized future for the web. Miners earn the native protocol token (also called “Filecoin”) by providing data storage and/or retrieval. Clients pay miners to store or distribute data and to retrieve it. Check out the Filecoin website and Filecoin Documentation for more.

Install

👋 Welcome to Go Filecoin!

This README outlines the basics for building and running Go-filecoin. For more background, configuration, and troubleshooting information check out the Go-filecoin Docs.

System Requirements

Go-filecoin can build and run on most Linux and MacOS systems. Windows is not yet supported.

A validating node can run on most systems with at least 8GB of RAM. A mining node requires significant RAM and GPU resources, depending on the sector configuration to be used.

Install from Source

Clone this git repository to your machine:

mkdir -p /path/to/filecoin-project
git clone https://github.com/filecoin-project/go-filecoin.git /path/to/filecoin-project/go-filecoin

Install Go

The build process for go-filecoin requires Go >= v1.13

Installing Go for the first time? We recommend this tutorial which includes environment setup.

Due to our use of cgo, you'll need a C compiler to build go-filecoin whether you're using a prebuilt library or building it yourself from source. If you want to use gcc (e.g. export CC=gcc) when building go-filecoin, you will need to use v7.4.0 or higher.

The build process will download a static library containing the Filecoin proofs implementation (which is written in Rust).

If instead you wish to build proofs from source, you'll need (1) Rust development environment and (2) to set the environment variable FFI_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE=1. More info at filecoin-ffi.

Install Dependencies

First, load all the Git submodules.

git submodule update --init --recursive

Initialize build dependencies.

make deps

Note: The first time you run deps can be slow as very large parameter files are either downloaded or generated locally in /var/tmp/filecoin-proof-parameters. Have patience; future runs will be faster.

Build and run tests

# First, build the binary
make

# Then, run the unit tests.
go run ./build test

# Build and test can be combined!
go run ./build best

Other handy build commands include:

# Check the code for style and correctness issues
go run ./build lint

# Run different categories of tests by toggling their flags
go run ./build test -unit=false -integration=true -functional=true

# Test with a coverage report
go run ./build test -cover

# Test with Go's race-condition instrumentation and warnings (see https://blog.golang.org/race-detector)
go run ./build test -race

# Deps, Lint, Build, Test (any args will be passed to `test`)
go run ./build all

Note: Any flag passed to go run ./build test (e.g. -cover) will be passed on to go test.

If you have problems with the build, please consult the Troubleshooting section of the Go-filecoin Documentation.

Usage

For a complete step-by-step tutorial, see Getting Started.

Quick start:

# Remove any existing symlink to a repo directory
rm ~/.filecoin

# Initialize a new repository, downloading a genesis file and setting network parameters (in this case, for the Testnet network)
go-filecoin init --genesisfile=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXZQeezX1x8uRQX9EUaYxnyivUpTfJqQTvszk3c8SnFPN/testnet.car --network=testnet

# Start the daemon.  It will block until it connects to at least one bootstrap peer.
go-filecoin daemon

Your node should now be connected to some peers, and begin downloading and validating the blockchain.

Open a new terminal to interact with your node:

# Print the node's connection information
go-filecoin id

# Show chain sync status
go-filecoin chain status

To see a full list of commands, run ./go-filecoin --help.

Advanced usage

Setting up a localnet

The localnet FAST binary tool allows users to quickly and easily setup a local network on the users computer. Please refer to the localnet README for more information. The localnet tool is only compatible when built from the same git ref as the targeted go-filecoin binary.

Contributing

We ❤️ all our contributors; this project wouldn’t be what it is without you! If you want to help out, please see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Check out the Go-Filecoin code overview for a brief tour of the code.

Community

Here are a few places to get help and connect with the Filecoin community:

• Go-filecoin Documentation — for tutorials, troubleshooting, and FAQs
• The #fil-go-filecoin channel on Filecoin Project Slack or Matrix/Riot - for live help and some dev discussions
• Filecoin Community Forum - for talking about design decisions, use cases, implementation advice, and longer-running conversations
• GitHub issues - to report bugs, and view or contribute to ongoing development.
• Filecoin Specification - how Filecoin is supposed to work

Looking for even more? See the full rundown at filecoin-project/community.

License

The Filecoin Project is dual-licensed under Apache 2.0 and MIT terms:

• Apache License, Version 2.0, (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)