5a94a09292
* Export the `zebra_state::Config::db_path` method Make it easier for tests to discover the sub-directory used to store the chain state data. * Generate code for interfacing with lightwalletd Use the `tonic-build` crate to generate Rust code for communicating with lightwalletd using gRPC. The `*.proto` files were obtained from the Zcash lightwalletd repository. * Use `block::Height` instead of `Height` Import the `block` instead to make it slightly clearer. * Add helper function to remove a file if it exists Try to remove it and ignore an error if it says that the file doesn't exist. This will be used later to remove the lock file from a copied chain state directory. * Add helper function to copy chain state dirs Copy an existing chain state directory into a new temporary directory. * Add a `BoxStateService` type alias Make it easier to write and read a boxed version of a state service. * Add a helper function to start the state service Make it easier to specify the state service to use an existing state cache directory. * Import `eyre!` macro at the module level Allow it to be used in different places without having to repeat the imports. * Add `load_tip_height_from_state_directory` helper A function to discover the current chain tip height stored in a state cache. * Add helper function to prepare partial sync. state Loads a partially synchronized cached state directory into a temporary directory that can be used by a zebrad instance, and also returns the chain tip block height of that state. * Add `perform_full_sync_starting_from` helper Runs a zebrad with an existing partially synchronized state, and finishes synchronizing it to the network chain tip. * Add function to load transactions from a block Use a provided state service to load all transactions from a block at a specified height. The state service is a generic type parameter, because `zebra_state::service::ReadStateService` is not exported publicly. Using a generic type parameter also allows the service to be wrapped in layers if needed in the future. * Add `load_transactions_from_block_after` helper A function to load transactions from a block stored in a cached state directory. The cached state must be synchronized to a chain tip higher than the requested height. * Add helper function to load some test transactions Given a partially synchronized chain state, it will extend that chain by performing a full synchronization, and obtain some transactions from one of the newly added blocks. * Update `spawn_zebrad_for_rpc_without_initial_peers` Wait until the mempool is activated. * Add method to start lightwalletd with RPC server Returns the lightwalletd instance and the port that it's listening for RPC connections. The instance can reuse an existing cached lightwalletd state if the `LIGHTWALLETD_DATA_DIR` environment variable is set. * Add a `LightwalletdRpcClient` type alias To make it easier to identify the type generated from the Protobuf files. * Add helper function to connect to lightwalletd Prepare an RPC client to send requests to a lightwalletd instance. * Add a `prepare_send_transaction_request` helper Creates a request message for lightwalletd to send a transaction. * Add test to send transactions using lightwalletd Obtain some valid transactions from future blocks and try to send them to a lightwalletd instance connected to a zebrad instance that hasn't seen those transactions yet. The transactions should be successfully queued in Zebra's mempool. * Make `zebra_directory` parameter generic Allow using a `TempDir` or a `PathBuf`. * Move lightwalletd protobuf files Place them closer to the module directory, so that it's clearer that they specify the RPC protocol for lightwalletd, and not Zebra itself. * Don't use coinbase transactions in the test Coinbase transactions are rejected by the mempool. * Don't remove state lock file It is removed automatically by Zebra when it shuts down, so if it exists it should be reported as a bug. * Force mempool to be enabled in Zebrad instance Speed up the initialization of the Zebrad instance used for lightwalletd to connect to. * Refactor to create `LIGHTWALLETD_DATA_DIR_VAR` Document how the environment variable can be used to speed up the test. * Check for process errors in spawned Zebra instance Enable checking for known process failure messages. * Add `FINISH_PARTIAL_SYNC_TIMEOUT` constant Document why it exists and how the choice of the value affects the test. * Add `LIGHTWALLETD_TEST_TIMEOUT` constant And use it for the Zebrad and the Lightwalletd instances used in the send transaction integration test. * Check `lightwalletd` process for errors Enable checking the lightwalletd process for known failure messages. * Update `tonic` and `prost` dependencies Use the latest version and fix CI failures because `rustfmt` isn't installed in the build environment. * Create `send_transaction_test` module Move the send transaction using lightwalletd test and its helper functions into a new module. * Move `LIGHTWALLETD_TEST_TIMEOUT` constant Place it in the parent `lightwalletd` module. * Move gRPC helper functions and types to `rpc` mod. Make them more accessible so that they can be used by other tests. * Create a `cached_state` module Move the test utility functions related to using a cached Zebra state into the module. * Move `perform_full_sync_starting_from` to `sync` Keep to closer to the synchronization utility functions. * Move Zebra cached state path variable constant Place it in the `cached_state` module. * Skip test if `ZEBRA_TEST_LIGHTWALLETD` is not set Make it part of the set of tests ignored as a whole if no lightwalletd tests should be executed. * Move `spawn_zebrad_for_rpc_without_initial_peers` Place it in the `launch` sub-module. * Rename `rpc` module into `wallet_grpc` Avoid any potential misunderstandings when the name is seen out of context. * Allow duplicate `heck` dependency At least until `structopt` is updated or `zebra-utils` is updated to use `clap` 3. * Fix a deny.toml typo * fix(build): CMake is required by `prost` crate Co-authored-by: teor <teor@riseup.net> Co-authored-by: Gustavo Valverde <gustavo@iterativo.do> |
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| .cargo | ||
| .github | ||
| book | ||
| docker | ||
| grafana | ||
| tower-batch | ||
| tower-fallback | ||
| zebra-chain | ||
| zebra-client | ||
| zebra-consensus | ||
| zebra-network | ||
| zebra-node-services | ||
| zebra-rpc | ||
| zebra-script | ||
| zebra-state | ||
| zebra-test | ||
| zebra-utils | ||
| zebrad | ||
| .dockerignore | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| CHANGELOG.md | ||
| CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md | ||
| CONTRIBUTING.md | ||
| Cargo.lock | ||
| Cargo.toml | ||
| LICENSE-APACHE | ||
| LICENSE-MIT | ||
| README.md | ||
| SECURITY.md | ||
| clippy.toml | ||
| codecov.yml | ||
| deny.toml | ||
| firebase.json | ||
| katex-header.html | ||
| prometheus.yaml | ||
README.md
Contents
- Contents
- About
- Beta Releases
- Getting Started
- Known Issues
- Future Work
- Documentation
- Security
- License
About
Zebra is the Zcash Foundation's independent, consensus-compatible implementation of a Zcash node, currently under development. It can be used to join the Zcash peer-to-peer network, which helps keeping Zcash working by validating and broadcasting transactions, and maintaining the Zcash blockchain state in a distributed manner. Please join us on Discord if you'd like to find out more or get involved!
Zcash is a cryptocurrency designed to preserve the user's privacy. Like most cryptocurrencies, it works by a collection of software nodes run by members of the Zcash community or any other interested parties. The nodes talk to each other in peer-to-peer fashion in order to maintain the state of the Zcash blockchain. They also communicate with miners who create new blocks. When a Zcash user sends Zcash, their wallet broadcasts transactions to these nodes which will eventually reach miners, and the mined transaction will then go through Zcash nodes until they reach the recipient's wallet which will report the received Zcash to the recipient.
The original Zcash node is named zcashd and is developed by the Electric Coin
Company as a fork of the original Bitcoin node. Zebra, on the other hand, is
an independent Zcash node implementation developed from scratch. Since they
implement the same protocol, zcashd and Zebra nodes can communicate with each
other and maintain the Zcash network interoperably.
If you just want to send and receive Zcash then you don't need to use Zebra directly. You can download a Zcash wallet application which will handle that for you. (Eventually, Zebra can be used by wallets to implement their functionality.) You would want to run Zebra if you want to contribute to the Zcash network: the more nodes are run, the more reliable the network will be in terms of speed and resistance to denial of service attacks, for example.
These are some of the advantages or benefits of Zebra:
- Better performance: since it was implemented from scratch in an async, parallelized way, Zebra
is currently faster than
zcashd. - Better security: since it is developed in a memory-safe language (Rust), Zebra is less likely to be affected by memory-safety and correctness security bugs that could compromise the environment where it is run.
- Better governance: with a new node deployment, there will be more developers who can implement different features for the Zcash network.
- Dev accessibility: supports more developers, which gives new developers options for contributing to Zcash protocol development.
- Runtime safety: with an independent implementation, the detection of consensus bugs can happen quicker, reducing the risk of consensus splits.
- Spec safety: with several node implementations, it is much easier to notice bugs and ambiguity in protocol specification.
- User options: different nodes present different features and tradeoffs for users to decide on their preferred options.
- Additional contexts: wider target deployments for people to use a consensus node in more contexts e.g. mobile, wasm, etc.
Beta Releases
Every few weeks, we release a new Zebra beta release.
Zebra's network stack is interoperable with zcashd,
and Zebra implements all the features required to reach Zcash network consensus.
The goals of the beta release series are for Zebra to act as a fully validating Zcash node, for all active consensus rules as of NU5 activation.
Currently, Zebra validates all of the Zcash consensus rules for the NU5 network upgrade. (As of the second NU5 activation on testnet.)
But it may not validate any:
- Undocumented rules derived from Bitcoin
- Undocumented network protocol requirements
Getting Started
Building zebrad requires Rust,
libclang, and a C++ compiler.
Build and Run Instructions
zebrad is still under development, so there is no supported packaging or
install mechanism. To run zebrad, follow the instructions to compile zebrad
for your platform:
- Install
cargoandrustc. - Install Zebra's build dependencies:
- libclang: the
libclang,libclang-dev,llvm, orllvm-devpackages, depending on your package manager - clang or another C++ compiler:
g++,Xcode, orMSVC
- libclang: the
- Run
cargo install --locked --git https://github.com/ZcashFoundation/zebra --tag v1.0.0-beta.8 zebrad - Run
zebrad start(see Running Zebra for more information)
If you're interested in testing out zebrad please feel free, but keep in mind
that there is a lot of key functionality still missing.
For more detailed instructions, refer to the documentation.
System Requirements
The recommended requirements for compiling and running zebrad are:
- 4+ CPU cores
- 16+ GB RAM
- 50GB+ available disk space for building binaries and storing finalized state
- 100+ Mbps network connections
We continuously test that our builds and tests pass on:
The latest GitHub Runners for:
- macOS
- Ubuntu
Docker:
- Debian Bullseye
Zebra's tests can take over an hour, depending on your machine. We're working on making them faster.
zebrad might build and run fine on smaller and slower systems - we haven't
tested its exact limits yet.
For more detailed requirements, refer to the documentation.
Memory Troubleshooting
If Zebra's build runs out of RAM, try setting:
export CARGO_BUILD_JOBS=2
If Zebra's tests timeout or run out of RAM, try running:
cargo test -- --test-threads=2
(cargo uses all the processor cores on your machine by default.)
macOS Test Troubleshooting
Some of Zebra's tests deliberately cause errors that make Zebra panic. macOS records these panics as crash reports.
If you are seeing "Crash Reporter" dialogs during Zebra tests, you can disable them using this Terminal.app command:
defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none
Network Ports and Data Usage
By default, Zebra uses the following inbound TCP listener ports:
- 8233 on Mainnet
- 18233 on Testnet
Zebra needs some peers which have a round-trip latency of 2 seconds or less. If this is a problem for you, please open a ticket.
zebrad's typical mainnet network usage is:
- Initial sync: 30 GB download
- Ongoing updates: 10-100 MB upload and download per day, depending on peer requests
Zebra also performs an initial sync every time its internal database version changes.
For more detailed information, refer to the documentation.
Network Troubleshooting
Some of Zebra's tests download Zcash blocks, so they might be unreliable depending on your network connection.
You can set ZEBRA_SKIP_NETWORK_TESTS=1 to skip the network tests.
Zebra may be unreliable on Testnet, and under less-than-perfect network conditions. See our roadmap for details.
Disk Usage
Zebra uses up to 40 GB of space for cached mainnet data, and 10 GB of space for cached testnet data.
RocksDB cleans up outdated data periodically, and when the database is closed and re-opened.
Disk Troubleshooting
Zebra's state commits changes using RocksDB database transactions.
If you forcibly terminate Zebra, or it panics, any incomplete changes will be rolled back the next time it starts.
So Zebra's state should always be valid, unless your OS or disk hardware is corrupting data.
Known Issues
There are a few bugs in Zebra that we're still working on fixing:
- In rare cases, Zebra panics on shutdown #1678
- See #2209 for an example.
- These panics can be ignored, unless they happen frequently.
- Interrupt handler does not work when a blocking task is running #1351
- Zebra should eventually exit once the task finishes. Or you can forcibly terminate the process.
- No Windows support #3801
- We used to test with Windows Server 2019, but not anymore; see issue for details
Future Work
In 2022, we intend to start adding RPC support and start adding wallet integrations. This phased approach allows us to test Zebra's independent implementation of the consensus rules, before asking users to entrust it with their funds.
Features:
- RPC functionality
- Wallet functionality
Performance and Reliability:
- Reliable syncing on Testnet
- Reliable syncing under poor network conditions
- Additional batch verification
- Performance tuning
Currently, the following features are out of scope:
- Mining support
- Optional Zcash network protocol messages
- Consensus rules removed before Canopy activation (Zebra checkpoints on Canopy activation)
Documentation
The Zebra website contains user documentation, such as how to run or configure Zebra, set up metrics integrations, etc., as well as developer documentation, such as design documents. We also render API documentation for the external API of our crates, as well as internal documentation for private APIs.
Security
Zebra has a responsible disclosure policy, which we encourage security researchers to follow.
License
Zebra is distributed under the terms of both the MIT license and the Apache License (Version 2.0).
See LICENSE-APACHE and LICENSE-MIT.