Build

Build from source

The repository is github.com/PrivacyDataCoin-Project/PDC, branch master. Clone it with submodules. A clone without --recursive misses the bundled libraries and will not configure.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/PrivacyDataCoin-Project/PDC.git

The steps below follow the README in that repository. Release CI builds on those pins. If a checksum in the README changes, follow the README of the commit you are building.

What the build produces

Target Binary You need it for
daemon build/src/pdcd A full node
simplewallet build/src/simplewallet Command-line wallet
connectivity_tool build/src/connectivity_tool Peer and network checks
Pdc build/src/Pdc Desktop wallet and GUI staking

CMake also builds test targets (coretests, crypto-tests, and others) under tests/. They are for contributors, not for mainnet.

Versions the README uses

These are the versions in the current release CI (Linux AppImage, Windows, and macOS jobs on master).

Component Release CI
GCC, Linux 11, on Ubuntu 22.04
MSVC 2022 (windows-2022)
Xcode macOS 14 or newer host. The GUI deployment target is macOS 12.0 because of Qt 6.8
CMake 3.16 or newer
Boost 1.84.0, static libraries
OpenSSL 3.5.8 on Linux and Windows, 3.5.7 on macOS, static (no-shared)
Qt, GUI only 6.8.3. Modules: Widgets, WebEngine, WebChannel, PrintSupport, plus WebEngine's qtpositioning and qtserialport

CMake still accepts Qt 5 if Qt5WebEngineWidgets is found. Release builds do not use Qt 5. utils/build_script_linux.sh is an older helper. Its Qt 5 library list does not match Qt 6.8.3. Use the cmake commands below.

A server build produces pdcd, simplewallet, and connectivity_tool. A GUI build also produces Pdc.

Linux

Use Ubuntu 22.04 if the binary should match the release AppImage. Newer hosts can compile. The shipped x64 image is still built on 22.04.

Server packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
  build-essential g++ cmake git curl ca-certificates bzip2 pkg-config perl \
  libbz2-dev zlib1g-dev libicu-dev

GUI packages are the server list plus the libraries the Linux CI image installs before Qt 6.8:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
  build-essential g++ cmake git curl ca-certificates bzip2 pkg-config perl \
  python3 python3-pip python3-venv \
  libbz2-dev zlib1g-dev libicu-dev \
  libevent-dev libminizip-dev \
  libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev \
  libnss3 libnspr4 \
  libxkbcommon-x11-0 libxcb-cursor0 libxcb-xinerama0 \
  desktop-file-utils file patchelf rsync

python3 is only needed to install Qt with aqtinstall. patchelf is only needed when packing an AppImage.

Build static Boost 1.84.0. STATIC=TRUE needs runtime-link=static, and find_package asks for the log component.

curl -fL -O https://archives.boost.io/release/1.84.0/source/boost_1_84_0.tar.bz2
echo "cc4b893acf645c9d4b698e9a0f08ca8846aa5d6c68275c14c3e7949c24109454  boost_1_84_0.tar.bz2" | sha256sum -c
tar -xjf boost_1_84_0.tar.bz2
cd boost_1_84_0
./bootstrap.sh --prefix=$HOME/boost_1_84_0 \
  --with-libraries=system,filesystem,thread,date_time,chrono,regex,serialization,atomic,program_options,locale,timer,log
./b2 -j"$(nproc)" link=static runtime-link=static threading=multi variant=release install
cd ..

Install Qt 6.8.3 for a GUI build:

python3 -m pip install --user 'aqtinstall==3.3.0'
python3 -m aqt install-qt linux desktop 6.8.3 linux_gcc_64 -O "$HOME/Qt" \
  -m qtwebengine qtwebchannel qtpositioning qtserialport

The prefix used below is $HOME/Qt/6.8.3/gcc_64.

Build static OpenSSL 3.5.8. Do not point the build at OpenSSL 1.1.1.

curl -fL -o openssl-3.5.8.tar.gz \
  https://github.com/openssl/openssl/releases/download/openssl-3.5.8/openssl-3.5.8.tar.gz
echo "a8f84a39918ec6415ce765d9b429d313ba97b8143169c172e734b9514464f5b2  openssl-3.5.8.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c
tar -xzf openssl-3.5.8.tar.gz
cd openssl-3.5.8
./Configure linux-x86_64 no-shared no-tests --prefix=$HOME/openssl --openssldir=$HOME/openssl --libdir=lib
make -j"$(nproc)" && make install_sw
cd ..

Export the prefixes, then open a new shell so they apply:

export BOOST_ROOT=$HOME/boost_1_84_0
export BOOST_LIBRARYDIR=$HOME/boost_1_84_0/lib
export OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=$HOME/openssl
export QT_PREFIX_PATH=$HOME/Qt/6.8.3/gcc_64

From the repository root, a server build:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DSTATIC=TRUE -DBUILD_GUI=FALSE \
  -DBOOST_ROOT="$BOOST_ROOT" -DBOOST_LIBRARYDIR="$BOOST_LIBRARYDIR" \
  -DOPENSSL_ROOT_DIR="$OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR" -DOPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS=TRUE
cmake --build build --parallel --target daemon simplewallet connectivity_tool

A GUI build:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DSTATIC=TRUE -DBUILD_GUI=TRUE \
  -DBOOST_ROOT="$BOOST_ROOT" -DBOOST_LIBRARYDIR="$BOOST_LIBRARYDIR" \
  -DOPENSSL_ROOT_DIR="$OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR" -DOPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS=TRUE \
  -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$QT_PREFIX_PATH"
cmake --build build --parallel --target Pdc

The GUI must link the shared libstdc++ that Qt loads. Do not pass -static-libstdc++ to Pdc. STATIC=TRUE applies that flag only to the CLI targets. Add -DTESTNET=TRUE for a testnet build. Testnet uses different ports and different hard-fork heights. Do not point a testnet binary at mainnet peers and expect them to sync.

The release AppImage is built on Ubuntu 22.04. It does not bundle GL, EGL, or X11. If the GUI fails to start, install the host libraries named by utils/Pdc_appimage_wrapper.sh:

sudo apt-get install -y libegl1 libgl1 libopengl0 libxcb-xinerama0 libx11-6 libxcb1

On a machine without FUSE: APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN=1 ./pdc-linux-x64-gui-*.AppImage.

Windows and macOS

Windows release CI uses Windows 11 x64, MSVC 2022, Boost 1.84.0 (static libs, shared CRT), OpenSSL 3.5.8 (static libs, shared CRT), and Qt 6.8.3 (MSVC 2022 x64, WebEngine). Edit paths in utils/configure_local_paths.cmd, run the Visual Studio generator script for your MSVC version, and build Pdc.sln. Deploy the GUI with windeployqt on Pdc.exe, then copy src/gui/qt-daemon/html next to the executable.

macOS release CI uses Boost 1.84.0, OpenSSL 3.5.7, and Qt 6.8.3. The GUI deployment target is macOS 12.0. Set the variables in utils/macosx_build_config.command. A self-signed “Pdc” code-signing certificate is required for the GUI script utils/build_script_mac_osx.sh.

Where the node writes data

The default data directory is ~/.PDC on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/PDC on macOS, and the roaming PDC folder on 64-bit Windows. --data-dir overrides it.

Inside that folder the chain uses a directory whose name starts with blockchain_ and ends with _v2. The peer cache is p2pstate.bin. The GUI keeps gui_settings.json and gui_secure_conf.bin. The miner config file name is miner_conf.json.

Edition v2.4.2 follows the latest release of PrivacyDataCoin-Project/PDC. The manual is docs.privacydatacoin.com. The public site is privacydatacoin.com. The block explorer is explorer.privacydatacoin.com.