Course 04 · PracticalArticle 15/187 min

Joining, in one command

You will have a verified node installed and running, and you will know exactly what the installer refused to do on your behalf.

The command

One line, no root, nothing outside your home directory.

On Linux or on Windows through WSL: `curl -fsSL https://vigichain.org/join.sh | bash`. It installs under ~/.vigichain, creates the node identity, encrypts it at rest with a passphrase generated on your machine, and starts the node against the public testnet. Undoing all of it is deleting that one directory.

What it verifies

It refuses to install anything it cannot authenticate.

Before anything is written to disk it downloads the binary, its detached signature, the signed checksum manifest and the signed build provenance; checks the signatures over the metadata before believing what the metadata says; checks the binary’s own signature; and confirms the provenance names that exact digest and one source commit. A missing verifier is a failure, not a warning.

The route in

Tor, because it reaches this network from behind any router.

The installer sets up Tor if it can, because the onion route works from a home connection with no port forwarding and no public address. The direct route stays configured as well, for the day an operator opens port 28719. Nobody asks permission to join: a machine that follows the rules is a participant.

Windows without WSL

A weaker path, and the script says so.

`irm https://vigichain.org/join.ps1 | iex` installs the Windows binary and verifies its SHA-256 against the release checksum file, then reads the provenance to confirm it binds that digest and a source commit. It cannot check any signature, because Windows ships no verifier. The script prints that difference rather than hiding it, and points at `wsl --install -d Ubuntu` as the stronger route.

In short

  • One command installs under ~/.vigichain and touches nothing else; deleting that directory undoes it.
  • Nothing is installed before the signature, the checksum and the provenance all check out.
  • The Tor route is what makes joining possible from an ordinary home connection.
  • The Windows-without-WSL path verifies checksums and provenance but no signature, and says so.