Unification’s UND Testnet Is Live!
Over the coming weeks, Unification will be rolling out our initial Mainchain development testnet, support tools and SDKs — allowing developers to play and interact with the system in a free sandbox environment. As we release and announce each tool, developers will be able to spin up their own test sandbox WRKChain, commit their WRKChain block hashes to the Mainchain testnet, and have the means offer validation of their WRKChain blocks against the Mainchain testnet.
In this article, we’ll briefly introduce the tools which are going to be made available, along with the anticipated release dates. As each toolset is released, it will be accompanied by its own in-depth article.
Testnet
Our initial testnet is now live! Although our Mainchain mainnet will implement DSG (Distributed Stake Governance) consensus protocol, our initial testnet comprises of three fixed nodes which are responsible for generating and signing new blocks. The Network ID for our testnet is 50005, and the genesis block can be viewed here: https://github.com/unification-com/mainchain/blob/master/genesis/und-testnet-50005.json
We have now embedded the WRKChain Root Smart Contract within the genesis block, and it can be accessed via the address 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000087. The WRKChain Root Smart Contract is the “data dump” for WRKChains to submit their block header hashes, and works with its counterpart — the WRKChain Oracle.
The Solidity source for the smart contract, along with ABI can be viewed here: https://github.com/unification-com/mainchain/tree/master/contracts/wrkchainroot
Since our Mainchain is go-ethereum based, Ethereum based wallet addresses are supported, as are any Solidity based smart contracts.
Github: https://github.com/unification-com/mainchain
JSON RPC Node
An interim Unification run JSON RPC node is currently running on https://rpc-testnet.unification.io (port 443 if required), to which test transactions can be submitted. This URL can be added as a custom RPC URL to tools such as MetaMask and MEW.
We have been using this internally during development, and a more permanent solution is expected to be released on the 24th May 2019.
A forthcoming article will outline how you can deploy and run your own JSON RPC node to interact with testnet.
Super Simple Block Explorer for Testnet
We have deployed an interim super-simple Block Explorer, which is available on https://explorer-testnet.unification.io whilst we work on a more sophisticated and permanent solution. The current simple block explorer allows you to view blocks, transactions and query address and contract balances.
The interim block explorer is a slightly modified version of the code available from https://bitbucket.org/designisdead/blockchain-explorer.git
Expected release date for our UND testnet explorer: 24th May 2019
Testnet Test UND Faucet
In order to interact with the testnet, developers will require Test UND. For this, we have a Test UND Faucet available at https://faucet-testnet.unification.io, which accepts any Ethereum-based wallet address. Simply enter an address, complete the Recaptcha, and the address will be funded with 5 shiny Test UND.
Github: https://github.com/unification-com/und-faucet
WRKChain SDK
The WRKChain SDK will allow developers to configure and deploy their own WRKChain. The SDK is easily configurable and will generate all the documentation, deployment and provisioning scripts necessary for deploying and running your own WRKChain. It currently supports configuring a go-ethereumbased WRKChain.
We have been making significant changes to how WRKChains deposit their hashes on Mainchain, and have simplified the process for WRKChain developers. Where previously a WRKChain developer was required to deploy and maintain their own WRKChain Root Smart Contract, we have now embedded the WRKChain Root contract into the genesis block, making the overall WRKChain deployment process for developers much more hassle-free.
As such, the SDK is currently under development with the required modifications being made to the generated documentation and provisioning profiles in order to support the latest genesis-embedded WRKChain Root smart contract.
The anticipated v1 public beta release date is 24th May 2019. An accompanying article will be published with a more in-depth look at the WRKChain SDK.
Github: https://github.com/unification-com/wrkchain
WRKChain Oracle
The WRKChain Oracle is the application which binds a WRKChain to the Mainchain. A WRKChain Developer runs the Oracle software in parallel with their WRKChain nodes. At a configurable frequency, the oracle queries the WRKChain for the latest block header hashes, and submits them to the WRKChain Root smart contract on Mainchain.
As with the WRKChain SDK, we are currently modifying the WRKChain Oracle code to support the new genesis-embedded Root smart contract, with the anticipated release date of 24th May 2019.
Github: https://github.com/unification-com/oracle
WRKChain Validator UI
The WRKChain Validator UI is a simple skeleton tool which can be adapted and extended by any third party. It can be configured to connect to a WRKChain, and the Mainchain in order to query and validated submitted WRKChain block hashes.
The UI is currently being modified to support the latest version of the genesis-embedded WRKChain Root smart contract, and the expected release date for v1 beta is 24th May 2019.
Github: https://github.com/unification-com/wrkchain-validator
We have a lot going on here at Unification, and we have an exciting (albeit extremely busy!) few weeks ahead as we continue to develop and release WRKChain support tools to be used with the live testnet.
Feel free to track progress — all of our public repos are available at https://github.com/unification-com
Unification Gitter: https://gitter.im/unification-com
