v2_blockchain

Tools for exploring the potential of ethereum blockchain on the V2_Blockchain network. These are helper scripts that deal with all the configuration and installation of all the tools necessary to run Ethereum nodes. The project is all centralized on the v2bc application that is basically a wrapper on top of geth, the Go-language implementation of the Ethereum client.

One-liner installers

Run these commands on the terminal to download and install all the tools necessary

Raspberry pi

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/davidjonas/v2_blockchain/master/installers/rasppi.sh | sh

Ubuntu

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/davidjonas/v2_blockchain/master/installers/ubuntu.sh | sh

Mac OSX

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/davidjonas/v2_blockchain/master/installers/osx.sh | sh

Usage:

Help on all the options:

v2bc --help

Creating a node and an account (multiple can be created and ran on the same machine):

v2bc -i NODENAME create

Listing all the created nodes on this machine:

v2bc list

Starting the node:

v2bc -i NODENAME start

Or interactive mode:

v2bc -i NODENAME console

Attaching a console to a running node:

v2bc -i NODENAME attach

Starting the node and unlocking the account:

v2bc -i NODENAME console --unlock

(You will need to type the passphrase for the account as the first input when starting the console) (This is necessary to submit contracts with the editor)

Runing a miner:

v2bc -i NODENAME mine

Getting the config string:

v2bc -i NODENAME configstring

This will print out all the configurations used for this node. Basically this string can be copy/pasted into the geth command to run that node. This might be useful when someone wants to run a node with some special configurations.

Smart contract editor:

The smart contract editor needs to be ran on a node. The node needs to be running on the machine with the --unlock option or the coinbase user of that node needs to be unlocked in the console before submitting the contract. The editor creates a small HTTP server running on port 8888 to render the UI but the editor will only work locally.

Starting the editor (On a new terminal):

v2bc -i NODENAME editor

The editor accepts solidity input and compiles it, sends it to the node and submits it to the network by sending a transaction on the blockchain. It will then wait for the contract to be mined, once it gets mined it will display the address of the new contract and generate/download a json file with the contract information. This file has the necessary information to call the contract. That would be the address (hash) of the contract and the ABI (Application Binary Interface)

Running the contracts

Helpers for loading contract json files and calling functions are not yet implemented. They are pretty easy to do though through the console or by connecting to the node from nodejs, python, javascript or any other programing language through the RPC JSON protocol or the IPC socket offered by geth. The installer also installs some tools to facilitate this process and make this possible.

• python ethereum-ipc-client (installed on your main python installation): https://github.com/pipermerriam/ethereum-ipc-client
• Nodejs web3 package (installed by the installers in ~/blockchain/nodejs): https://github.com/ethereum/web3.js/tree/master
• Nodejs gpio-stream package (installed by the installers in ~/blockchain/nodejs in Raspberry pi only): https://www.npmjs.com/package/gpio-stream
• Javascript web3.js is used to create the contract editor so the code can be used as example (Check the UI folder).

Links

Understanding the Blockchain: http://radar.oreilly.com/2015/01/understanding-the-blockchain.html

A 101 Noob Intro to Programming Smart Contracts on Ethereum: https://medium.com/@ConsenSys/a-101-noob-intro-to-programming-smart-contracts-on-ethereum-695d15c1dab4#.hfiqgockk

Contract examples: http://ether.fund/contracts/solidity

Solidity documentation: https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/The-Solidity-Programming-Language