Build the Node

c8ntinuum builds the ctmd node binary from source. Use this page when you need a local developer build, an installed binary, or a self-contained distribution bundle. For local chain startup after the binary is built, see Local Development.

What gets built

The top-level Makefile builds ctmd from evmd/cmd/evmd. Builds use CGO and first build the Rust SP1 verifier dynamic library from rust/sp1verifier. The usual developer targets are:

make doctor
make build
make install

make build creates a development binary under build/. make install installs the binary into BINDIR, which defaults to $(go env GOPATH)/bin or $HOME/go/bin if GOPATH is not available.

Prerequisites

Go matching go.mod and evmd/go.mod
make
Rust and Cargo for rust/sp1verifier
A working C toolchain for CGO builds
macOS dynamic-library tooling: otool and install_name_tool
Linux dynamic-library tooling: ldd; patchelf is recommended

Ledger support is enabled by default and requires gcc. To build without ledger support:

LEDGER_ENABLED=false make build

RocksDB support is enabled by default. If RocksDB is not detected, the build falls back to goleveldb unless ROCKSDB_REQUIRED=true is set.

macOS setup

Install the Xcode Command Line Tools:

xcode-select --install

For a local RocksDB-backed build, install RocksDB and companion libraries with Homebrew:

brew install rocksdb snappy zstd lz4 bzip2 zlib gflags

The build system uses Homebrew prefixes when available and uses install_name_tool to fix local dynamic-library paths.

Linux setup

Install the core build tools and dynamic-library helpers:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
  build-essential \
  pkg-config \
  patchelf \
  curl \
  ca-certificates \
  libsnappy-dev \
  zlib1g-dev \
  libbz2-dev \
  liblz4-dev \
  libzstd-dev \
  libgflags-dev \
  libnuma-dev

If your distribution ships an appropriate RocksDB development package, install it. Otherwise, build RocksDB from source and set ROCKSDB_PREFIX, ROCKSDB_INCLUDE_DIR, or ROCKSDB_LIB_DIR so the Makefile can find it.

Build commands

Check the local environment:

make doctor

Build a development binary:

make build

Install the binary:

make install

Install into a custom directory:

BINDIR=/path/to/bin make install

Create a self-contained distribution bundle under build/dist:

make dist
make verify-dist

Useful build overrides:

ROCKSDB_ENABLED=false make build
ROCKSDB_REQUIRED=true make build
RUST_SP1_PROFILE=dev make build
RUSTUP_TOOLCHAIN=<toolchain> make build

Outputs

make build writes:

build/ctmd
build/libsp1verifier.dylib   # macOS
build/libsp1verifier.so      # Linux

make install writes:

$BINDIR/ctmd
$BINDIR/Frameworks/libsp1verifier.dylib   # macOS
$BINDIR/lib/libsp1verifier.so             # Linux

make dist writes:

build/dist/bin/ctmd
build/dist/lib/libsp1verifier.*

When RocksDB is enabled, install and dist targets also bundle the required RocksDB dynamic libraries that the build system can detect.

Verify the binary

For a development build:

./build/ctmd version

For an installed build:

ctmd version

If ctmd is not found after make install, confirm that BINDIR is on your PATH:

export PATH="$(go env GOPATH)/bin:$PATH"

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
`cargo` not found	Install Rust and Cargo, then rerun `make doctor`.
`gcc not installed for ledger support`	Install a C toolchain or build with `LEDGER_ENABLED=false make build`.
RocksDB is missing	Let the build fall back to `goleveldb`, set `ROCKSDB_REQUIRED=true` to fail fast, or set `ROCKSDB_PREFIX=/path/to/rocksdb`.
`patchelf` is missing on Linux	Install `patchelf`; development builds can still run with `LD_LIBRARY_PATH=build ./build/ctmd version`.
`ctmd` is not on `PATH`	Use the full binary path or install with `BINDIR="$HOME/.local/bin" make install`.

Getting Started

Operations

Advanced

What gets built

Prerequisites

macOS setup

Linux setup

Build commands

Outputs

Verify the binary

Troubleshooting

​What gets built

​Prerequisites

​macOS setup

​Linux setup

​Build commands

​Outputs

​Verify the binary

​Troubleshooting

What gets built

Prerequisites

macOS setup

Linux setup

Build commands

Outputs

Verify the binary

Troubleshooting