Building using Docker

Docker is great for making sure differences between operating systems, distributions, installations and build environments don’t get in the way of coding fun. For this quick start, we’ll use docker to set up a minimal Ubuntu installation and take it from there. However, you don’t need Docker – similar instructions can be used to get things working on pretty much any Linux installation or a Mac Homebrew system, just don’t come complaining if it doesn’t work for you on some niche distribution (Arch, I’m looking at you!) or *nix with 6 months of cruft caking it up. Instead, get the docker image working and then figure out what the differences are.

NOTE: Ensure you have docker to begin with.

$ docker run -it ubuntu bash

This will give you a temporary docker environment.

Grab Rust

NOTE: If you already have Rust in your environment, you don’t need to bother with this.

This will download and install Rust on Linux and OS X:

$ curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh

If you are using Windows make sure Visual Studio 2015 with C++ support is installed. Ensure you run all of the next stuff in the VS2015 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt.

NOTE: We do not support the GNU toolset on Windows. Do not install it, and do not install any Rust version that uses it. If you see x86_64-pc-windows-gnu anywhere, you’ve done it wrong!

Download and run rustup and use the following command to setup the MSVC toolchain:

$ rustup default stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

Install and Build Parity

Next, grab the Parity Ethereum repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/paritytech/parity
$ cd parity

For tests, also update submodules:

$ git submodule init
$ git submodule update

You can build with:

$ cargo build

You can run the unit tests with:

$ ./test.sh

You can run just the consensus tests with:

$ cargo test --release --features ethcore/json-tests -p ethcore

To install Parity Ethereum on Linux and Mac OS, just build it and copy it to /usr/local/bin:

$ cargo build --release && cp target/release/parity /usr/local/bin

For Windows, use copy it into C:/Windows:

$ cargo build --release
$ copy target/release/parity C:/Windows

You can start a client and sync with the network with:

$ cargo run --release

To get help on the command line options for the parity client, use --help:

$ cargo run --release --help

A note on backing up your datadir with Docker

In case you need to persist the blockchain files, keys etc., you should run the image with the --base-path option and then mount it, e.g.:

$ docker run --name parity -v /srv/parity:/mnt ethcore/parity:beta --base-path /mnt