Installation

The zbox CLI can be built and installed on Linux, macOS, and other supported platforms. This guide covers prerequisites, system requirements, installation steps, and how to run your first zbox command.

Prerequisites

• Go Install Go for Mac, Linux, or Windows. Then, Verify installation:

  go version

• Git Required to clone the repository (not needed on macOS by default).

  sudo apt install git

• Build Tools

  • Linux/macOS: make, gcc, or clang

  • Recommended: gcc 11 for compatibility (Ubuntu 22 ships with gcc-11 by default; Ubuntu 20 requires upgrade).

  Upgrade gcc on Ubuntu 20:

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install build-essential
  sudo apt install gcc-11 g++-11

System Requirements

Minimum recommended machine specifications for building and running zbox:

• Linux (Ubuntu preferred): Version 20.04+

• macOS: Big Sur+ (Intel or Apple Silicon)

• CPU: 4 vCPU

• Memory: 4 GB RAM

• Storage: 2 GB free space (build + storage allocation)

Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/0chain/zboxcli.git
cd zboxcli

2. Build and Install

make install

This compiles the binary and installs it into your $GOPATH/bin or system path.

Configuration

zbox requires a config file located at:

$HOME/.zcn/config.yaml

Create it using the following script:

mkdir -p ~/.zcn
cat > ~/.zcn/config.yaml << EOF
block_worker: https://mainnet.zus.network/dns
signature_scheme: bls0chain
min_submit: 50 # in percentage
min_confirmation: 50 # in percentage
confirmation_chain_length: 3
EOF

This sets the Züs mainnet as your default network.

Running zbox

Navigate to the zboxcli directory and run:

./zbox

Running without arguments displays the full list of supported commands and global flags.

Example usage output:

Usage:
  zbox [command]

Available Commands:
  add                Adds free storage assigner
  alloc-cancel       Cancel an allocation
  alloc-fini         Finalize an expired allocation
  bl-info            Get blobber info
  bl-update          Update blobber settings by its delegate_wallet owner
  collect-reward     Collect accrued rewards for a stake pool.
  completion         Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
  copy               Copy an object(file/folder) to another folder on blobbers
  ...
  wp-unlock          Unlock some expired tokens in a write pool.

Alternative Builds

For non-standard platforms (e.g., ARM64 Linux, Raspberry Pi 3B+):

1. Download the build script:

   wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0chain/zboxcli/master/pibuild.sh

2. Run the script:

   bash pibuild.sh

This builds the MCL/BLS libraries with the required MCL_USE_GMP=0 flag and installs zbox.