Gridcoin Docker Image

This is a docker image that runs a gridcoin wallet on your machine. I created it because I had a bit of difficulty compiling the gridcoin client on my computer and decided that I wasn't going to do this for all the computers I have - enter Docker and the ease of use with downloading an image that I don't really install.

I hope you find this image useful and if you have any recomendations, submit a pull request/issue or send me an email at vishakhpradeepkumar@gmail.com - I'd love to make this image better.

This docker image is located at dockerhub at https://hub.docker.com/r/grokkingstuff/gridcoin/.

How to run this image?

Run this in your terminal.

Create a data volume called gridcoin_gary

docker volume create --name gridcoin_gary \
                     --opt device=:/path/to/dir \

Create an instance of the gridcoin wallet via this command:

docker run -ti --rm -v gridcoin_gary:/root/.GridcoinResearch \
           -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY_MAC \
           -v "/Library/Application Support/BOINC Data":/root/boinc_dir \
           -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
           --restart unless-stopped \
           -it grokkingstuff/gridcoin

Unfortunately, this works only for Macs as the GUI display requires the X-server (that's on Docker, not me) - much better instructions can be found here. I'll add instructions for Linux and Windows later. You're more than welcome to add a pull request :D

FAQ

Is this safe to use in a mature mining rig.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No.

Not yet anyway. It's rather early to use it properly. Untill it's seen some actual use, I can't give you a guarentee. But I can say it hasn't crashed yet. I'm hoping it's a good sign (and not a catastrophe going to happen.)

In any case, you won't lose your data. I know docker images are ephemeral and that's why I have a data volume for that - it will remain even if you restart the image (or it crashes.) All you have to do is inspect the contents on the volume.

I'd like to backup my wallet.

While the data volume is safe, I do appreciate the concern that a wallet might be corrupted or lost. Heck, I'd be angry if I lost my gridcoins. Which is why I like to backup my wallet on a regular basis. Here is the command to backup the data volume your data is stored in.

'''bash docker export --output wallet_backup.tar gridcoin_gary '''

When you want to import your backup into a data volume again, use this command

'''bash docker import /wallet_backup.tar '''

What if you want to look at the contents of the data volume?

'''bash docker run -v gridcoin_gary:/mnt/named busybox ls -lg /mnt/named '''

What if you'd like to copy the contents of the file to your host computer? Use the ''' docker cp ''' command to copy files.

I try to download blocks and the thing stops working! Why?

After the wallet downloads the blocks, the wallet restarts itself which tells docker it's stopped. I currently don't have a fix for that. My suggestion is to not use that option for now - at some point, I'll try to fix that.

You really shouldn't have to do that since the image comes with a snapshot of the blockchain - this image has batteries included.

I got an error message that says that it can't load the graphical interface

I'd recommend looking at the way you've set up X-server. My recommendation is to use the instructions here. I use the proxying option myself - it's easy to do and works reliably.

Why on earth is the dockerhub repo under grokkingstuff while your name is grokkingStuff ? (note the capitalization of the s)

Docker Hub didn't allow me to use a capital S in my username. I'm so sorry for any confusion that causes.

Other stuff

Feel free to critize this image as much as possible - or just add your own pull request.

grokkingStuff/gridcoin