Compiling Dash Core

While Dash offers stable binary builds on the website and on GitHub, and development builds using GitLab CI, many users will also be interested in building Dash binaries for themselves. This process has been greatly simplified with the release of Dash Core 0.13.0, and users who do not required deterministic builds can typically follow the generic build notes available on GitHub to compile or cross-compile Dash for any platform.

The instructions to build Dash Core 0.12.3 or older are available here on a previous version of this page.

Gitian

Gitian is the deterministic build process that is used to build the Dash Core executables. It provides a way to be reasonably sure that the executables are really built from the source on GitHub. It also makes sure that the same, tested dependencies are used and statically built into the executable. Multiple developers build the source code by following a specific descriptor (“recipe”), cryptographically sign the result, and upload the resulting signature. These results are compared and only if they match, the build is accepted and uploaded to dash.org.

Build process

Note

This setup has been tested using a clean install of Ubuntu 20.04. For maximum compatibility, please use that version.

Start by logging in as the “root” user. Create a new user with the following command, replacing <username> with a username of your choice:

adduser <username>

You will be prompted for a password. Enter and confirm using a new password (different to your root password) and store it in a safe place. You will also see prompts for user information, but this can be left blank. Alternatively, an existing user can be used on systems that are already in use (e.g. your existing development system).

Create a docker group on the system. This group will be used by Docker processes and also will enable non-root users to run the Docker commands used by the build process:

groupadd docker

Add the user to the sudo and docker groups so they can perform commands as root and run docker commands:

usermod -aG sudo,docker <username>

Install prerequisites

While still logged in as root, update the system from the Ubuntu package repository:

apt update
apt upgrade -y

Install apt-cacher-ng:

apt install -y apt-cacher-ng

Note

Select No when asked Allow HTTP tunnels through Apt-Cacher NG? during installation.

Note: you may also need to open port 3142 if you have a firewall enabled on your system (e.g. ufw allow 3142/tcp).

After installing these updates, reboot the system, login as <username>, and clone required repositories:

git clone https://github.com/dashpay/dash
git clone https://github.com/devrandom/gitian-builder
git clone https://github.com/dashpay/dash-detached-sigs
git clone https://github.com/dashpay/gitian.sigs

Download the Mac OSX SDK:

mkdir gitian-builder/inputs
wget -q -O gitian-builder/inputs/MacOSX10.11.sdk.tar.gz https://bitcoincore.org/depends-sources/sdks/MacOSX10.11.sdk.tar.gz

Prepare gitian

It is only necessary to run this step during the initial setup of your machine. Checkout the tag associated with the Dash Core version you plan to build:

# <version> = Dash Core tag to build
# Example: git checkout v0.17.0.0
cd dash
git checkout <version>
cd ..

Run the gitian-build setup routine to prepare your environment:

# <signer> = The name associated with your PGP key
# <version> = Dash Core tag to build (exclude the leading "v")
# Example: ./dash/contrib/gitian-build.py --setup alice 0.17.0.3
./dash/contrib/gitian-build.py --setup <signer> <version>

Note

The signer parameter should be set to the value provided for “Real name” when generating a key with GPG. See the GnuPrivacyGuard Howto for details on how to generate a key if you don’t already have one.

Build Dash Core

Run gitian build to create binaries for Linux, Mac, and Windows:

# <signer> = The name associated with your PGP key
# <version> = Dash Core tag to build (exclude the leading "v")
# Example: Build binaries for all OSes, use all available cores and 16 GB RAM
#   ./dash/contrib/gitian-build.py -b -n -j $(nproc) -m 16000 alice 0.17.0.3
./dash/contrib/gitian-build.py -b -n -j $(nproc) -m <MB of RAM to use> <signer> <version>

Warning

These instructions assume that a PGP key for <signer> exists on the build system. If the expected key is not found, the script will fail at the signing step with a message including:

gpg: skipped "<signer>": No secret key
gpg: signing failed: No secret key

When the build completes, it will put the binaries in a dashcore-binaries folder. The .assert files and their signatures will be placed in gitian.sigs/<version>/<signer>/....

Create signatures for signed binaries

Mac and Windows binaries are signed by Dash Core Group using the relevant Apple/Microsoft processes. In this step, that information will be validated and signed by your machine. The associated .assert files and their signatures will be placed in gitian.sigs/<version>/<signer>/... along with the signatures for unsigned binaries created in the previous step.

# <signer> = The name associated with your PGP key
# <version> = Dash Core tag to build (exclude the leading "v")
# Example: ./dash/contrib/gitian-build.py -s -n -j $(nproc) -m 16000 -o mw alice 0.17.0.3
./dash/contrib/gitian-build.py -s -n -j $(nproc) -m <MB of RAM to use> -o mw <signer> <version>

Verify signatures

The gitian.sigs repository contains deterministic build results signed by multiple Core developers for each release. Run the following command to verify that your build matches the official release:

# Example: ./dash/contrib/gitian-build.py -v alice 0.17.0.3
./dash/contrib/gitian-build.py -v <signer> <version>

You should get a result similar to the following for Linux, Windows, MacOS, Signed Windows, and Signed MacOS. Assuming the previous steps completed successfully, you will also see your own signatures with an OK status also.

Verifying v0.17.0.3 Linux

gpg: Signature made Sun 06 Jun 2021 12:46:44 PM EDT
gpg:                using RSA key 29590362EC878A81FD3C202B52527BEDABE87984
gpg: Good signature from "Pasta <pasta@dashboost.org>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 2959 0362 EC87 8A81 FD3C  202B 5252 7BED ABE8 7984
pasta: OK

gpg: Signature made Sun 06 Jun 2021 06:41:11 PM EDT
gpg:                using RSA key CF9A554A36B7950BB648A15DA0078C72B1777616
gpg:                issuer "xdustinfacex@gmail.com"
gpg: Good signature from "Dustinface <xdustinfacex@gmail.com>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: CF9A 554A 36B7 950B B648  A15D A007 8C72 B177 7616
dustinface: OK

gpg: Signature made Sun 06 Jun 2021 07:39:14 PM EDT
gpg:                using RSA key 3F5D48C9F00293CD365A3A9883592BD1400D58D9
gpg: Good signature from "UdjinM6 <UdjinM6@dash.org>" [unknown]
gpg:                 aka "UdjinM6 <UdjinM6@dashpay.io>" [unknown]
gpg:                 aka "UdjinM6 <UdjinM6@gmail.com>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 3F5D 48C9 F002 93CD 365A  3A98 8359 2BD1 400D 58D9
UdjinM6: OK

Upload signatures

After successfully building the binaries, signing them, and verifying the signatures, you can optionally contribute them to the gitian.sigs repository via a pull request on GitHub.

Initial setup

Since the official gitian.sigs repository has restricted write access, create a fork of it via GitHub and add your fork as a remote repository:

git remote add me https://github.com/<your GitHub username>/gitian.sigs

The first time you contribute signatures, also put a copy of your public key in the gitian-keys folder of the repository so others can easily verify your signature. Your public key can be exported to a file using the following command:

# <signer> = The name associated with your PGP key
# Example: gpg --output alice.pgp --armor --export alice
gpg --output <signer>.pgp --armor --export <signer>

Adding your signatures

Create a new branch for the version that was built:

# Example: git checkout -b 0.17.0.3-alice
git checkout -b <version>-<signer>

Add and commit the *.assert and *.assert.sig files created by the build process. They will be located in the following folders:

<version>-linux/<signer>/*
<version>-osx-signed/<signer>/*
<version>-osx-unsigned/<signer>/*
<version>-win-signed/<signer>/*
<version>-win-unsigned/<signer>/*

Push to your fork of the gitian.sigs repository on GitHub:

# "me" references the name of the remote repository added during initial setup
git push me

Go to GitHub and open a pull request to the master branch of the upstream repository. The pull request will be reviewed by Dash Core developers and merged if everything checks out. Thanks for contributing!