Building

VIZ Ledger node uses CMake 3.16+ and requires Boost 1.71+ with the coroutine component. Supported platforms: Ubuntu 24.04+, macOS (Homebrew), Windows (MSVC or MinGW).

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Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Step 1: Install dependencies (requires root)

chmod +x install-deps-linux.sh
sudo ./install-deps-linux.sh

This installs: CMake, GCC/G++, Git, Make, ccache, OpenSSL, Boost 1.71 (all required components including coroutine/context), readline, and compression libraries.

Step 2: Build (run as regular user, not root)

chmod +x build-linux.sh
./build-linux.sh

Common options:

./build-linux.sh              # Release build (default)
./build-linux.sh -l           # LOW_MEMORY_NODE (validator nodes)
./build-linux.sh -n           # Testnet build
./build-linux.sh -t Debug -j4 # Debug build with 4 parallel jobs
./build-linux.sh --skip-deps  # Skip dependency installation
./build-linux.sh --install    # Install to system after build

# Custom dependency paths
./build-linux.sh --boost-root /opt/boost_1_74_0 --openssl-root /opt/openssl

Fedora/RHEL

The same scripts detect dnf automatically. Packages installed: cmake, gcc-c++, git, ccache, boost-devel, openssl-devel, bzip2-devel, zstd-devel.

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macOS

chmod +x build-mac.sh
./build-mac.sh

Requires Xcode Command Line Tools and Homebrew. The script installs: boost, cmake, git, autoconf, automake, libtool, openssl, readline.

Options:

./build-mac.sh -l              # Low-memory node
./build-mac.sh -n              # Testnet
./build-mac.sh --skip-deps     # Skip Homebrew installs
./build-mac.sh --boost-root /opt/boost_1_74_0

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Windows (MinGW)

Set required environment variables, then run the batch script:

set BOOST_ROOT=C:\Boost
set OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=C:\OpenSSL-Win64
build-mingw.bat

Optional variables:

Variable	Default	Description
VIZ_BUILD_TYPE	Release	Release or Debug
VIZ_LOW_MEMORY	OFF	Enable low-memory node
VIZ_BUILD_TESTNET	OFF	Testnet build
VIZ_FULL_STATIC	OFF	Fully static binary
VIZ_CMAKE_EXTRA	—	Additional CMake flags

Requirements: MinGW-w64 with C++11 and SSE4.2, CMake 3.16+, Boost 1.71+ (static, link=static threading=multi runtime-link=shared), OpenSSL for Windows.

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Windows (MSVC)

set BOOST_ROOT=C:\Boost
set OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=C:\OpenSSL-Win64
build-msvc.bat

Optional variables:

Variable	Default	Description
VIZ_VS_VERSION	"Visual Studio 17 2022"	Visual Studio generator
VIZ_BUILD_TYPE	Release	Build type
VIZ_LOW_MEMORY	OFF	Low-memory node
VIZ_BUILD_TESTNET	OFF	Testnet build

Requirements: Visual Studio 2019+ with "Desktop development with C++" workload, CMake 3.16+.

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Docker

The repository ships Dockerfiles for multiple configurations:

Dockerfile	Description
Dockerfile-production	Full mainnet node (Release)
Dockerfile-testnet	Testnet (BUILD_TESTNET=ON)

All Dockerfiles use a two-stage build to minimize image size and use Boost 1.71 packages (libboost-coroutine-dev, libboost-context-dev).

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CMake Options

Option	Default	Description
BUILD_TESTNET	OFF	Build for testnet
LOW_MEMORY_NODE	OFF	Exclude non-consensus data (reduces RAM)
CHAINBASE_CHECK_LOCKING	OFF	Enable lock checking (development only)
BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARIES	OFF	Build shared libraries
USE_PCH	OFF	Enable precompiled headers (faster rebuilds)

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Advanced: configure_build.py

Wraps CMake with sensible defaults and cross-compilation support:

# Release build
python3 programs/build_helpers/configure_build.py --release --src ../..

# Debug with low-memory
python3 programs/build_helpers/configure_build.py --debug --low-memory

# Cross-compile for Windows with MinGW
python3 programs/build_helpers/configure_build.py --win --release

# Custom dependency paths
python3 programs/build_helpers/configure_build.py \
  --boost-dir /opt/boost_1_74_0 \
  --openssl-dir /opt/openssl \
  --release

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New Plugin Scaffolding

python3 programs/util/newplugin.py graphene myplugin

Generates: CMakeLists.txt, plugin header/implementation, API header/implementation under libraries/plugins/myplugin/.

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Build Targets

Binary	Description
vizd	Main node daemon
cli_wallet	Command-line wallet
js_operation_serializer	JavaScript operation serializer
size_checker	Size analysis utility

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Troubleshooting

Boost version below 1.71: Install Boost 1.71+ from your package manager (Ubuntu 24.04 ships 1.74). On macOS, brew install boost provides a recent version. On Windows, build from source with the coroutine component.

Do not run this script as root error: Use sudo ./install-deps-linux.sh for dependencies, then run ./build-linux.sh as a regular user.

Coroutine component missing: Ensure libboost-coroutine-dev and libboost-context-dev are installed on Ubuntu/Debian.

macOS OpenSSL not found: Set OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR manually: export OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=$(brew --prefix openssl).

Windows MinGW missing variables: Both BOOST_ROOT and OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR must be set before running build-mingw.bat.

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See also: Plugin Development, Testing, Plugins Overview.