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Building from source

The Nethermind's source code can be obtained from our repository on GitHub:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/nethermindeth/nethermind.git

There are two options buiding Nethermind from source code:

Building standalone binaries​

Prerequisites​

To build Nethermind from source, install .NET SDK 9 or later.

tip

For a seamless experience, ensure your .NET SDK is up to date.

Building​

To build both the client and tests, run the following command from the project's root directory:

dotnet build src/Nethermind/Nethermind.sln -c release

To simply run the client with a specific configuration without building tests, see below.

info

Before running the client or tests, ensure the platform-specific prerequisites are met.

Running​

Nethermind can be launched immediately without compiling explicitly (thus, the previous step can be skipped). The following command builds Nethermind if needed and runs it:

cd src/Nethermind/Nethermind.Runner
dotnet run -c release -- -c mainnet

All Nethermind-specific parameters can be specified after --. For instance, the command above specifies the Mainnet configuration only.

The build artifacts can be found in the src/Nethermind/artifacts/bin/Nethermind.Runner/release directory. By default, the logs and database directories are located here as well.

For more info, see Running a node.

Testing​

There are two test suites — Nethermind and Ethereum Foundation. Tests can be run with the following commands (the initial step of the build is not required):

cd src/Nethermind

# Run Nethermind tests
dotnet test Nethermind.sln -c release

# Run Ethereum Foundation tests
dotnet test EthereumTests.sln -c release

Bulding Docker image​

tip

Building a Nethermind Docker image does not require cloning the Nethermind source code since Docker can build it directly from the repository. For more information, see the Docker Docs.

Currently, there are three Docker images available in the project's root directory:

  • Dockerfile: the default Nethermind Docker image.
  • Dockerfile.chiseled: the rootless and chiseled version of the Nethermind Docker image.
  • Dockerfile.diag: an image with pre-installed .NET diagnostics and tracing tools. This image is intended for internal use and is not distributed via public channels.

All Docker images have the following optional arguments:

  • BUILD_CONFIG: the build configuration that is either release or debug. Defaults to release.
  • BUILD_TIMESTAMP: the build time as a Unix timestamp. Defaults to the current time.
  • CI: this is mostly used for CI builds determining whether the build is deterministic. Must be either true or false. Defaults to false.
  • COMMIT_HASH: the Git commit hash to use as a part of the version string. Defaults to the latest commit hash.

Given the above, the following command builds the Nethermind chiseled Docker image from the project's root directory:

build_timestamp=$(date '+%s')
commit_hash=$(git rev-parse HEAD)

docker build . \
  -f Dockerfile.chiseled \
  -t nethermind-chiseled \
  --build-arg BUILD_TIMESTAMP=$build_timestamp \
  --build-arg CI=true \
  --build-arg COMMIT_HASH=$commit_hash

For quick testing images, the above arguments can be omitted if not needed:

docker build . -t nethermind

An even faster approach is to build the image directly from the repository. The following command builds the version 1.27.0:

docker build https://github.com/nethermindeth/nethermind.git#1.27.0 -t nethermind

The above optional arguments can be specified as well if needed.

For more info about running Docker containers, see Installing Nethermind.