dbabits / mint-client

Low-level clients for talking to tendermint chains

Master Develop

mint-client

Command line interfaces for low-level conversations with tendermint chains

See tests in ./DOCKER

mintx

For crafting transactions, getting them signed, and broadcasting them to a node

mintinfo

For making RPC calls to a node and parsing responses

mintgen

For generating tendermint genesis.json's

mintkey

For converting between eris-keys and tendermint priv_validator.json's

mintdump

For dumping and restoring blockchain state data

mintperm

For converting between human-readable and machine-readable tendermint permissions

Walkabout

Let's use these tools to register a real domain name against the blockchain!

First thing we need the eris-keys daemon to generate private keys and handle signing.

eris-keys depends on the gmp library. On ubuntu, you can get with

sudo apt-get install libgmp3-dev

Now,

go get github.com/eris-ltd/eris-keys
eris-keys &
eris-keys gen

This will install the software, start the daemon, and generate a new key (keys are stored in ~/.eris/keys/). The final output is your tendermint address. We need to also know the public key:

eris-keys pub <address>

where <address> is the address you just generated with eris-keys gen

Now, to simplify our lives, lets set a few environment variables. Open your ~/.bashrc and paste in the following

export MINTX_SIGN_ADDR=http://localhost:4767
export MINTX_NODE_ADDR=http://pinkpenguin.chaintest.net:46657/
export MINTX_PUBKEY=<PUBKEY>
export MINTX_CHAINID=etcb_testnet

where <PUBKEY> is the output of the eris-keys pub command.

Run source ~/.bashrc to make the new variables take effect.

Now we can send transactions!

Well, technically, someone has to send you a transaction first so you have some funds. Contact someone with funds on the chain and give them your address so they can send you funds. Sending funds is easy as:

mintx send --to <addr> --amt <amount> --sign --broadcast

You can monitor the accounts at http://pinkpenguin.chaintest.net:46657/list_accounts Alternatively, run

mintinfo accounts

Now, lets say we want to create an A record for the subdomain magma.interblock.io at 1.2.3.4. We would send the following tx:

mintx name --name magma.interblock.io --data '{"fqdn":"magma.interblock.io", "address":"1.2.3.4", "type":"A"}' --amt 100000 --fee 0 --sign --broadcast

The data you pass must be specially formatted (as shown) to be recognized as a dns entry. It's just json with an fqdn, address, and type argument. The --amt flag determines how long your entry will remain on the chain (or at least how long until it can be overwritten, but it is not automatically deleted). Wait about 30 seconds, and you should be able to resolve the new domain with dig:

dig @ns1.interblock.io magma.interblock.io

Of course this uses our name server directly, and it might take a little longer before the new record propogates to other dns caches.

To run your own nameservers linked to the blockchain, send a NameTx with the "type" argument set to "NS", eg:

mintx name --name newdomain.io --data '{"fqdn":"newdomain.io", "address":"4.3.2.1", "type":"NS"}' --amt 100000 --fee 0 --sign --broadcast

Of course this will only work with the real DNS system if you own the domain newdomain.io, and you tell your registrar to point at your own nameservers (presumably 4.3.2.1). Then just run our docker container and you'll be serving DNS straight from the blockchain!