..NOTE:: Plugeth is built on a fork of `Geth`_ and as such requires familiarity with `Go`_ and a funtional `environment`_ in which to build Go projects. Thankfully for everyone Go provides a compact and useful `tutorial`_ as well as a `space for practice`_.
PluGeth is an application built in three seperate repositories.
*`PluGeth`_
*`PluGethUtils`_
*`PluGethPlugins`_
Once all three are cloned into their own directories you are ready to begin. First we need to build geth though the PluGeth project. Navigate to ``plugeth/cmd/geth`` and run:
..code-block:: shell
$ go get
This will download all dependencies needed for the project. This process will take a moment or two the first time through. Next run:
..code-block:: shell
$ go build
Once this is complete you should see a ``.ethereum`` folder in your home directory.
At this point you are ready to start downloading local ethereum nodes. In order to do so, from ``plugeth/cmd/geth`` run:
..code-block:: shell
$ ./geth
..NOTE::``./geth`` is the primary command to build a *Mainnet* node. Building a mainnet node requires at least 8 GB RAM, 2 CPUs, and 350 GB of SSD disks. However, dozens of available flags will change the behavior of whichever network you choose to connect to. ``--help`` is your friend.
Build a plugin
**************
Navigate to ``plugethPlugins/packages/hello``. Inside you will see a ``main.go`` file. From this location run:
..code-block:: shell
$ go build -buildmode=plugin
This will compile the plugin and produce a ``hello.so`` file. Move ``hello.so`` into ``~/.ethereum/plugins`` . In order to use this plugin geth will need to be started with a ``http.api=mymamespace`` flag. Additionally you will need to include a ``--http`` flag in order to access the standard json rpc methods.
Once geth has started you should see that the first ``INFO`` log reads: ``initialized hello`` . A new json rpc method, called hello, has been been appended to the list of available json rpc methods. In order to access this method you will need to ``curl`` into the network with this command:
