168 lines
8.5 KiB
Markdown
168 lines
8.5 KiB
Markdown
# Lighthouse: an Ethereum Serenity client
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[](https://travis-ci.org/sigp/lighthouse) [](https://gitter.im/sigp/lighthouse?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge)
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A work-in-progress, open-source implementation of the Serenity Beacon
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Chain, maintained by Sigma Prime.
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The "Serenity" project is also known as "Ethereum 2.0" or "Shasper".
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## Lighthouse Client
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Lighthouse is an open-source Ethereum Serenity client that is currently under
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development. Designed as a Serenity-only client, Lighthouse will not
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re-implement the existing proof-of-work protocol. Maintaining a forward-focus
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on Ethereum Serenity ensures that Lighthouse avoids reproducing the high-quality
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work already undertaken by existing projects. As such, Lighthouse will connect
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to existing clients, such as
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[Geth](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum) or
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[Parity-Ethereum](https://github.com/paritytech/parity-ethereum), via RPC to enable
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present-Ethereum functionality.
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### Further Reading
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- [About Lighthouse](docs/lighthouse.md): Goals, Ideology and Ethos surrounding
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this implementation.
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- [What is Ethereum Serenity](docs/serenity.md): an introduction to Ethereum Serenity.
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If you'd like some background on Sigma Prime, please see the [Lighthouse Update
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\#00](https://lighthouse.sigmaprime.io/update-00.html) blog post or the
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[company website](https://sigmaprime.io).
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### Components
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The following list describes some of the components actively under development
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by the team:
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- **BLS cryptography**: Lighthouse presently use the [Apache
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Milagro](https://milagro.apache.org/) cryptography library to create and
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verify BLS aggregate signatures. BLS signatures are core to Serenity as they
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allow the signatures of many validators to be compressed into a constant 96
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bytes and efficiently verified. The Lighthouse project is presently
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maintaining its own [BLS aggregates
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library](https://github.com/sigp/signature-schemes), gratefully forked from
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[@lovesh](https://github.com/lovesh).
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- **DoS-resistant block pre-processing**: Processing blocks in proof-of-stake
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is more resource intensive than proof-of-work. As such, clients need to
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ensure that bad blocks can be rejected as efficiently as possible. At
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present, blocks having 10 million ETH staked can be processed in 0.006
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seconds, and invalid blocks are rejected even more quickly. See
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[issue #103](https://github.com/ethereum/beacon_chain/issues/103) on
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[ethereum/beacon_chain](https://github.com/ethereum/beacon_chain).
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- **P2P networking**: Serenity will likely use the [libp2p
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framework](https://libp2p.io/). Lighthouse is working alongside
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[Parity](https://www.parity.io/) to ensure
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[libp2p-rust](https://github.com/libp2p/rust-libp2p) is fit-for-purpose.
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- **Validator duties** : The project involves development of "validator
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services" for users who wish to stake ETH. To fulfill their duties,
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validators require a consistent view of the chain and the ability to vote
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upon blocks from both shard and beacon chains.
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- **New serialization formats**: Lighthouse is working alongside researchers
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from the Ethereum Foundation to develop *simpleserialize* (SSZ), a
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purpose-built serialization format for sending information across a network.
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Check out the [SSZ
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implementation](https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/tree/master/beacon_chain/utils/ssz)
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and this
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[research](https://github.com/sigp/serialization_sandbox/blob/report/report/serialization_report.md)
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on serialization formats for more information.
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- **Fork-choice**: The current fork choice rule is
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[*LMD Ghost*](https://vitalik.ca/general/2018/12/05/cbc_casper.html#lmd-ghost),
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which effectively takes the latest messages and forms the canonical chain using
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the [GHOST](https://eprint.iacr.org/2013/881.pdf) mechanism.
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- **Efficient state transition logic**: State transition logic governs
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updates to the validator set as validators log in/out, penalizes/rewards
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validators, rotates validators across shards, and implements other core tasks.
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- **Fuzzing and testing environments**: Implementation of lab environments with
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continuous integration (CI) workflows, providing automated security analysis.
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In addition to these components we are also working on database schemas, RPC
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frameworks, specification development, database optimizations (e.g.,
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bloom-filters), and tons of other interesting stuff (at least we think so).
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### Directory Structure
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Here we provide an overview of the directory structure:
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- `beacon_chain/`: contains logic derived directly from the specification.
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E.g., shuffling algorithms, state transition logic and structs, block
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validation, BLS crypto, etc.
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- `lighthouse/`: contains logic specific to this client implementation. E.g.,
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CLI parsing, RPC end-points, databases, etc.
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### Running
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**NOTE: The cryptography libraries used in this implementation are
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experimental. As such all cryptography is assumed to be insecure.**
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This code-base is still very much under-development and does not provide any
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user-facing functionality. For developers and researchers, there are several
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tests and benchmarks which may be of interest.
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A few basic steps are needed to get set up:
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1. Install [rustup](https://rustup.rs/). It's a toolchain manager for Rust (Linux | macos | Windows). For installation run the below command in your terminal `$ curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh`
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2. (Linux & MacOS) To configure your current shell run: `$ source $HOME/.cargo/env`
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3. Use the command `rustup show` to get information about the Rust installation. You should see that the
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active toolchain is the stable version.
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4. Run `rustc --version` to check the installation and version of rust.
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- Updates can be performed using` rustup update` .
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5. Install build dependencies (Arch packages are listed here, your distribution will likely be similar):
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- `clang`: required by RocksDB.
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- `protobuf`: required for protobuf serialization (gRPC).
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6. Navigate to the working directory.
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7. Run the test by using command `cargo test --all`. By running, it will pass all the required test cases.
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If you are doing it for the first time, then you can grab a coffee in the meantime. Usually, it takes time
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to build, compile and pass all test cases. If there is no error then it means everything is working properly
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and it's time to get your hands dirty.
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In case, if there is an error, then please raise the [issue](https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/issues).
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We will help you.
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8. As an alternative to, or instead of the above step, you may also run benchmarks by using
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the command `cargo bench --all`
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##### Note:
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Lighthouse presently runs on Rust `stable`, however, benchmarks currently require the
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`nightly` version.
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##### Note for Windows users:
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Perl may also be required to build lighthouse. You can install [Strawberry Perl](http://strawberryperl.com/),
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or alternatively use a choco install command `choco install strawberryperl`.
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Additionally, the dependency `protoc-grpcio v0.3.1` is reported to have issues compiling in Windows. You can specify
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a known working version by editing version in protos/Cargo.toml's "build-dependencies" section to
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`protoc-grpcio = "<=0.3.0"`.
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### Contributing
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**Lighthouse welcomes contributors with open-arms.**
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If you would like to learn more about Ethereum Serenity and/or
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[Rust](https://www.rust-lang.org/), we are more than happy to on-board you
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and assign you some tasks. We aim to be as accepting and understanding as
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possible; we are more than happy to up-skill contributors in exchange for their
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assistance with the project.
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Alternatively, if you are an ETH/Rust veteran, we'd love your input. We're
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always looking for the best way to implement things and welcome all
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respectful criticisms.
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If you are looking to contribute, please head to our
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[onboarding documentation](https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/blob/master/docs/onboarding.md).
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If you'd like to contribute, try having a look through the [open
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issues](https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/issues) (tip: look for the [good
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first
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issue](https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22)
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tag) and ping us on the [gitter](https://gitter.im/sigp/lighthouse) channel. We need
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your support!
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## Contact
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The best place for discussion is the [sigp/lighthouse gitter](https://gitter.im/sigp/lighthouse).
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Ping @paulhauner or @AgeManning to get the quickest response.
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# Donations
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If you support the cause, we could certainly use donations to help fund development:
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`0x25c4a76E7d118705e7Ea2e9b7d8C59930d8aCD3b`
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