Mist Browser

The Mist browser is the tool of choice to browse and use Ðapps.

For the Mist API see the MISTAPI.md.

Installation

If you want install the app from a pre-built version on the release page, you can simply run the executable after download.

For updating simply download the new version and copy it over the old one (keep a backup of the old one if you want to be sure).

Config folder

The data folder for Mist is stored in other places:

Windows %APPDATA%\Mist
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/Mist
Linux ~/.config/Mist

Development

For development, a Meteor server will to be started to assist with live reload and CSS injection. Once a Mist version is released the Meteor frontend part is bundled using meteor-build-client npm package to create pure static files.

Dependencies

To run mist in development you need:

Node.js v6.x (use the prefered installation method for your OS)
Meteor javascript app framework
Yarn package manager
Electron v1.3.13 cross platform desktop app framework
Gulp build and automation system

Install the later ones via:

$ curl https://install.meteor.com/ | sh
$ curl -o- -L https://yarnpkg.com/install.sh | bash
$ yarn global add electron@1.3.13
$ yarn global add gulp

Initialisation

Now you're ready to initialize Mist for development:

$ git clone https://github.com/expanse-org/mist.git
$ cd mist
$ yarn

To update Mist in the future, run:

$ cd mist
$ git pull
$ yarn

Run Mist

For development we start the interface with a Meteor server for auto reload etc. Start the interface in a separate terminal window:

$ cd mist/interface && meteor --no-release-check

In the original window you can then start Mist with:

$ cd mist
$ electron .

NOTE: client-binaries (e.g. geth) specified in clientBinaries.json will be checked during every startup and downloaded if out-of-date, binaries are stored in the config folder

NOTE: use --help to display available options, e.g. --loglevel debug (or trace) for verbose output

Run the Wallet

Start the wallet app for development, in a separate terminal window:

$ cd mist/interface && meteor --no-release-check

// and in another terminal

$ cd my/path/meteor-dapp-wallet/app && meteor --port 3050

In the original window you can then start Mist using wallet mode:

$ cd mist
$ electron . --mode wallet

Connecting to node via HTTP instead of IPC

This is useful if you have a node running on another machine, though note that it's less secure than using the default IPC method.

$ electron . --rpc http://localhost:8545

Passing options to Gexp

You can pass command-line options directly to Gexp by prefixing them with --node- in the command-line invocation:

$ electron . --mode mist --node-rpcport 19343 --node-networkid 2

The --rpc Mist option is a special case. If you set this to an IPC socket file path then the --ipcpath option automatically gets set, i.e.:

$ electron . --rpc /my/gexp.ipc

...is the same as doing...

$ electron . --rpc /my/gexp.ipc --node-ipcpath /my/gexp.ipc

Using Mist with a privatenet

To run a private network you will need to set the IPC path, network id and data folder:

$ electron . --rpc ~/Library/Expanse/gexp.ipc --node-networkid 1234  --node-datadir ~/Library/Expanse/privatenet

NOTE: since ipcpath is also a Mist option you do not need to also include a --node-ipcpath option.

You can also run gexp separately yourself with the same options prior to start Mist normally.

Deployment

To create a binaries you need to install electron-builder dependencies:

// tools for the windows binaries
$ brew install wine --without-x11 mono makensis
// tools for the Linux binaries
$ brew install gnu-tar libicns graphicsmagick xz
// general dependencies
$ npm install -g meteor-build-client

To generate the binaries simply run:

$ cd mist
$ gulp

// Or to generate the wallet (using the https://github.com/expanse-org/meteor-dapp-wallet -> master)
$ gulp wallet

This will generate the binaries inside the dist_mist/release or dist_wallet/release folder.

Options

platform

Additional you can only build the windows, linux, mac or all binary by using the platform option:

$ gulp update-nodes --platform mac

// And
$ gulp mist --platform mac

// Or
$ gulp mist --platform mac,win

Options are:

mac (Mac OSX)
win (Windows)
linux (Linux)
all (default)

walletSource

With the walletSource you can specify the branch to use, default ist master:

$ gulp mist --walletSource develop

Options are:

master
develop
local Will try to build the wallet from [mist/]../meteor-dapp-wallet/app

mist-checksums | wallet-checksums

Spits out the SHA256 checksums of distributables.

It expects installer/zip files to be in the generated folders e.g. dist_mist/release

$ gulp mist-checksums

3f726fff186b85c600ea2459413d0bf5ada2dbc98877764efbefa545f96eb975  ./dist_mist/release/Mist-0.8.1-ia32.exe
ab4d26d5ebc66e9aba0fa610071266bacbb83faacbb7ed0dd2acb24386190bdb  ./dist_mist/release/Mist-0.8.1.exe
909b0fb4c7b09b731b2a442c457747e04ffdd9c03b6edc06079ae05a46200d13  ./dist_mist/release/Mist-0.8.1-ia32.deb
e114d6188963dfdae0489abf4e8923da58b39ff9cdbaad26e803af27c7ce55d1  ./dist_mist/release/Mist-0.8.1.deb
930787dd2f5ed6931068bff9244bccc01f397f552c48ded0f08e515e276dd080  ./dist_mist/release/Mist-0.8.1.dmg

Code signing for production

As of #972 we've updated the build process and thus need to redo code-signing.

Testing

First make sure to build Mist with: gulp mist --platform [mac,linux] or gulp wallet --platform [mac,linux].

Then run gulp test-mist or gulp test-wallet, accordingly.

expanse-org / mist

readme