Building from Source

VIZ Ledger uses a CMake-based build system with dedicated build scripts for each platform. The two-script Linux process (install-deps-linux.sh + build-linux.sh) separates dependency installation (needs root) from the actual build (runs as a regular user).

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Requirements

Component	Version
CMake	3.16+
GCC	4.8+
Clang	3.3+
Boost	1.71+ (with coroutine component)
OpenSSL	Any recent version

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Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 / 22.04 / 24.04)

Step 1 — Clone the repository

git clone --recursive https://github.com/VIZ-Blockchain/viz-cpp-node
cd viz-cpp-node

Step 2 — Install dependencies (as root)

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

Installs: cmake, gcc/g++, git, boost (all components including coroutine/context), openssl, readline, ccache, and compression libraries.

Step 3 — Build (as regular user)

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

Output binary: build/programs/vizd/vizd

Common build flags

# Low-memory node (validators/seed nodes — excludes history indexing)
./build-linux.sh -l

# Testnet build
./build-linux.sh -n

# Debug build
./build-linux.sh -t Debug

# Parallel jobs
./build-linux.sh -j 8

# Skip dependency installation (already installed)
./build-linux.sh --skip-deps

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

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macOS

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

The script installs Xcode Command Line Tools (if needed) and Homebrew dependencies automatically, then configures and builds.

# With custom Boost path
./build-mac.sh --boost-root /opt/homebrew/opt/boost

# Skip dependency installation
./build-mac.sh --skip-deps

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Windows (MinGW)

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

Optional environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
VIZ_BUILD_TYPE	Release	Release or Debug
VIZ_LOW_MEMORY	OFF	ON to build low-memory node
VIZ_BUILD_TESTNET	OFF	ON for testnet build
VIZ_FULL_STATIC	OFF	ON for fully static binary

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Windows (MSVC)

Requires Visual Studio 2019+ with "Desktop development with C++" workload:

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

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CMake Options

For direct CMake usage (advanced):

Option	Default	Description
BUILD_TESTNET	OFF	Enable testnet-specific code
LOW_MEMORY_NODE	OFF	Exclude history/indexing plugins
CHAINBASE_CHECK_LOCKING	OFF	Enable lock assertion checks (debug)
BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARIES	OFF	Build shared libraries
USE_PCH	OFF	Enable precompiled headers (faster rebuilds)

Example:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
      -DLOW_MEMORY_NODE=ON \
      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \
      ..
make -j$(nproc)

Or use the helper:

python3 programs/build_helpers/configure_build.py --release

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Build Targets

Target	Binary	Description
vizd	programs/vizd/vizd	Main node daemon
cli_wallet	programs/cli_wallet/cli_wallet	Command-line wallet

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Docker Builds

The repository ships four Dockerfiles:

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

Build example:

docker build -f share/vizd/docker/Dockerfile-production -t vizd:local .

See Docker for full production Docker setup.

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
boost/coroutine.hpp not found	Install libboost-coroutine-dev (Ubuntu) or Boost 1.71+
CMake < 3.16	Install newer CMake from cmake.org or Kitware PPA
do not run as root error	Run build-linux.sh as a normal user, not sudo
Link error on macOS (OpenSSL)	export OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=$(brew --prefix openssl)
Out of memory during compilation	Use -j 2 to reduce parallel jobs