# Installing the Mainchain Software

This documentation outlines how to install the Unification Mainchain und software as a client, in order to interact with any of the Mainchain networks to query data/send transactions.

TIP

If you intend to run a node and/or become a validator, follow the Install und with Cosmovisor instead.

# Installing the latest release binaries

IMPORTANT!

If you are upgrading your und binary from a previous version to v1.8.x, Cosmos SDK v0.46.x uses a new keyring interface, and your keyring will be migrated the first time you interact with the upgraded und

Please ensure you back up your keystore first, and make sure you have safely copied private keys and written down mnemonics!

On Linux systems, for example, the keyring may be located in

$HOME/.local/share/keyrings/UndMainchain.keyring

Safely backup your keyring and any keyfiles you may be using!

The latest pre-compiled binaries are available for download from https://github.com/unification-com/mainchain/releases (opens new window).

  • The und binary has been compiled for Linux, OSX and Windows.

Download the latest version of und:

    Once downloaded, you can verify the SHA256 checksum against those listed in the release's checksums.txt, for example:

    openssl dgst -sha256 und_VERSION_DOWNLOADED.tar.gz
    

    should output something like:

    SHA256(und_VERSION_DOWNLOADED.tar.gz)= abc123...
    

    Extract them and copy the binaries to a suitable location - preferably a location in your $PATH environment variable, for example /usr/local/bin.

      Once installed, verify:

      which und
      

      should output:

      /usr/local/bin/und
      

      and:

      und version --log_level=""
      

      The output should match the latest release version tag.

      # Building from Source

      The Mainchain binaries can also be built from source.

      # Prerequisites

      git and make are required dependencies for building. curl and/or wget are recommended, and jq is useful for quickly looking up values in, for example genesis.json

      These can all be installed via your package manager, for example:

      sudo apt-get install git curl wget make jq
      

      or

      sudo yum install git curl wget make jq
      

      # Install Go

      Go 1.16+ is required to build the Mainchain binaries

      Install go by following the official docs (opens new window). Once Go is installed, set your $PATH environment variable:

      $ mkdir -p $HOME/go/bin
      $ echo "export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin" >> ~/.bash_profile
      $ source ~/.bash_profile
      

      # Build and install the binaries

      IMPORTANT

      unless you are contributing to Mainchain development, it is recommended you checkout and build from the latest release tag and not the master branch if you intend to connect to a live, public network (e.g. TestNet/MainNet).

      Download the latest tagged Mainchain release from https://github.com/unification-com/mainchain/releases (opens new window)

      The [latest-release-tag] required for the command below can also be obtained by running:

      curl --silent "https://api.github.com/repos/unification-com/mainchain/releases/latest" | grep -Po '"tag_name": "\K.*?(?=")'
      

      Then run:

      $ git clone -b [latest-release-tag] https://github.com/unification-com/mainchain
      $ cd mainchain
      $ make install
      

      This will install the und binary into your $HOME/go/bin

      # Verify the installation

      Run the following commands:

      und version --long
      

      If und has been installed correctly, you should see output similar to the following:

      name: UndMainchain
      server_name: und
      version: 1.6.3
      commit: 4ce308e65a4a6de0d2d05f88b02584869f6b1c24
      build_tags: netgo
      go: go version go1.18.5 linux/amd64
      build_deps:
      ...SNIP...
      cosmos_sdk_version: v0.45.9
      

      # Development

      The included Mainchain DevNet network can be used for development and testing of new features and bug fixes locally. To build the binaries for testing without installing, run:

      make build
      

      This will output the binaries to the ./build directory located in the repository root.

      See the DevNet docs for more information about running DevNet.

      # CLI Help

      Both the und and und commands can have the --help flag passed to output details on what commands are available, and flags enabled for that command:

      und --help
      

      Likewise, the --help flag can be passed to subcommands, for example:

      und query wrkchain --help