cmd

Testnet command extensions

gaiad extends testnet commands with unsafe-start-local-validator command that should be used only for testing.

The command makes changes to the local mainnet node to make it suitable for local testing. The changes include modification of consensus and application states by removing old validator data and injecting the new one, and funding the addresses to be used in testing without affecting existing addresses.

The command is added as a sub-command of the gaiad testnet command.

Building a local testnet binary

The gaia binary will contain the testnet extensions only if the unsafe_start_local_validator build tags is used.

make build BUILD_TAGS="-tag unsafe_start_local_validator"

CLI usage

Example of running the command:

./gaiad testnet unsafe-start-local-validator  
--validator-operator="cosmosvaloper17fjdcqy7g80pn0seexcch5pg0dtvs45p57t97r"  
--validator-pubkey="SLpHEfzQHuuNO9J1BB/hXyiH6c1NmpoIVQ2pMWmyctE=" 
--validator-privkey="AiayvI2px5CZVl/uOGmacfFjcIBoyk3Oa2JPBO6zEcdIukcR/NAe64070nUEH+FfKIfpzU2amghVDakxabJy0Q=="  
--accounts-to-fund="cosmos1ju6tlfclulxumtt2kglvnxduj5d93a64r5czge,cosmos1r5v5srda7xfth3hn2s26txvrcrntldjumt8mhl"  
[other gaiad start flags]

Local setup

gaiad init localnet-export
gaiad keys add test-key --keyring-backend test --keyring-dir ~/.gaia
# get --validator-operator
export VAL_ACC_ADDR=$(gaiad keys show test-key --home ~/.gaia --keyring-backend test --output json | jq .address -r)
gaiad keys parse $(gaiad keys parse $VAL_ACC_ADDR --output=json | jq .bytes -r) --output json | jq .
{
  "formats": [
    "cosmos1738fdeqcepf9mrpdwyrl9zvhlmf2jk4t2x3jwd",
    "cosmospub1738fdeqcepf9mrpdwyrl9zvhlmf2jk4t4qaphg",
    "cosmosvaloper1738fdeqcepf9mrpdwyrl9zvhlmf2jk4t0j98z7", # --> take this one
    "cosmosvaloperpub1738fdeqcepf9mrpdwyrl9zvhlmf2jk4ta3uyqm",
    "cosmosvalcons1738fdeqcepf9mrpdwyrl9zvhlmf2jk4tmpkmwl",
    "cosmosvalconspub1738fdeqcepf9mrpdwyrl9zvhlmf2jk4tv48v22"
  ]
}

# --validator-pubkey and --validator-privkey are in`$HOME/.gaia/config/priv_validator.json
cat $HOME/.gaia/config/priv_validator.json
{
  "address": "067CC9545EC0CD744C44D611E3E8857D69E9CAD4",
  "pub_key": {
    "type": "tendermint/PubKeyEd25519",
    "value": "0zorKvPxmVUSBRl49julqrBu69mu6U6+V4GxC8fvxcM="  # --validator-pubkey
  },
  "priv_key": {
    "type": "tendermint/PrivKeyEd25519",
    "value": "rfZBWExZtNzrLx+cy8lMPXQFowXO7AZc5FXBeOyvSdDTOisq8/GZVRIFGXj2O6WqsG7r2a7pTr5XgbELx+/Fww==" # --validator-privkey
  }
}

Example usecase

1. download a mainnet node snapshot
2. replace all validator key files (keyring data, priv_validator_key.json, values in priv_validator_state.json are reset to 0...)
3. run gaiad testnet unsafe-start-local-validator -> switches the validator set and starts the node