join-testnet.md

Join the Public Testnet

::: tip Current Testnet See the testnet repo for information on the latest testnet, including the correct version of Gaia to use and details about the genesis file. :::

::: warning You need to install gaia before you go further :::

Starting a New Node

NOTE: If you ran a full node on a previous testnet, please skip to Upgrading From Previous Testnet.

To start a new node, the mainnet instructions apply:

• Join the mainnet
• Deploy a validator

The only difference is the SDK version and genesis file. See the testnet repo for information on testnets, including the correct version of the Cosmos-SDK to use and details about the genesis file.

Upgrading Your Node

These instructions are for full nodes that have ran on previous versions of and would like to upgrade to the latest testnet.

Reset Data

First, remove the outdated files and reset the data.

rm $HOME/.gaiad/config/addrbook.json $HOME/.gaiad/config/genesis.json
gaiad unsafe-reset-all

Your node is now in a pristine state while keeping the original priv_validator.json and config.toml. If you had any sentry nodes or full nodes setup before, your node will still try to connect to them, but may fail if they haven't also been upgraded.

::: danger Warning Make sure that every node has a unique priv_validator.json. Do not copy the priv_validator.json from an old node to multiple new nodes. Running two nodes with the same priv_validator.json will cause you to double sign. :::

Software Upgrade

Now it is time to upgrade the software:

git clone https://github.com/cosmos/gaia.git
cd gaia
git fetch --all && git checkout master
make install

::: tip NOTE: If you have issues at this step, please check that you have the latest stable version of GO installed. :::

Note we use master here since it contains the latest stable release. See the testnet repo for details on which version is needed for which testnet, and the Gaia release page for details on each release.

Your full node has been cleanly upgraded!