Geth - cogeorg/teaching GitHub Wiki

Geth (or Go-ETHereum) is the command line interface that allow you to run and operate a full Ethereum node. Geth is implemented in Go and allows you to mine blocks, to generate Ether, to deploy and interact with smart contracts, to transfer funds, to inspect block history, to create accounts, ... Geth can be used to connect to a public Ethereum network, mainnet or testnet, or to create your own private network for development purposes. The full wiki is available here. Here, you will find brief installation instructions as well as an into on how to get a node up and running using the command line interface.

Installation

Installation instructions for Ubuntu

To install from PPA

$ sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
$ sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ethereum/ethereum
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install ethereum

Installation instructions for macOS

The easiest way to install go-ethereum is to use the Homebrew tap. If you don't have Homebrew, install it first. You may need to install XCode from the App Store first. Then run the following commands to add the tap and install geth:

$ brew update
$ brew tap ethereum/ethereum
$ brew install ethereum  

Interfaces

• Javascript Console: geth can be launched with an interactive console, that provides a javascript runtime environment exposing a javascript API to interact with your node. The Javascript Console includes the web3 javascript Ðapp API as well as an additional admin API.
• JSON-RPC server: geth can be launched with a json-rpc server that exposes the JSON-RPC API
• Command line options documents command line parameters as well as subcommands.

Basic Use Case Documentation

• Managing accounts
• Mining

Useful Command line Options

USAGE:  
    geth [options] command [command options] [arguments...]  


COMMANDS:
    init       Bootstrap and initialize a new genesis block
    import     Import a blockchain file
    export     Export blockchain into file
    upgradedb  Upgrade chainblock database
    removedb   Remove blockchain and state databases
    dump       Dump a specific block from storage
    monitor    Monitor and visualize node metrics
    account    Manage accounts
    wallet     Manage Ethereum presale wallets
    console    Start an interactive JavaScript environment
    attach     Start an interactive JavaScript environment (connect to node)
    js         Execute the specified JavaScript files
    makedag    Generate ethash DAG (for testing)
    version    Print version numbers
    license    Display license information
    help, h    Shows a list of commands or help for one command  


ETHEREUM OPTIONS:
    --datadir "/home/user/.ethereum"  Data directory for the databases and keystore
    --keystore                        Directory for the keystore (default = inside the datadir)
    --networkid value                 Network identifier (integer, 0=Olympic (disused), 1=Frontier, 2=Morden (disused), 3=Ropsten) (default: 1)
    --olympic                         Olympic network: pre-configured pre-release test network
    --testnet                         Ropsten network: pre-configured test network
    --dev                             Developer mode: pre-configured private network with several debugging flags
    --identity value                  Custom node name
    --fast                            Enable fast syncing through state downloads
    --light                           Enable light client mode  


NETWORKING OPTIONS:
   --bootnodes value     Comma separated enode URLs for P2P discovery bootstrap
   --port value          Network listening port (default: 30303)
   --maxpeers value      Maximum number of network peers (network disabled if set to 0) (default: 25)
   --maxpendpeers value  Maximum number of pending connection attempts (defaults used if set to 0) (default: 0)
   --nat value           NAT port mapping mechanism (any|none|upnp|pmp|extip:<IP>) (default: "any")
   --nodiscover          Disables the peer discovery mechanism (manual peer addition)  


MINER OPTIONS:
   --mine                  Enable mining
   --minerthreads value    Number of CPU threads to use for mining (default: 8)
   --autodag               Enable automatic DAG pregeneration
   --etherbase value       Public address for block mining rewards (default = first account created) (default: "0")
   --targetgaslimit value  Target gas limit sets the artificial target gas floor for the blocks to mine (default: "4712388")
   --gasprice value        Minimal gas price to accept for mining a transactions (default: "20000000000")
   --extradata value       Block extra data set by the miner (default = client version)  

Make sure to check the different options and commands with geth --help