parity-ethereum

OpenEthereum (originally Parity Ethereum) is a full Ethereum client, meaning it is software that connects to the Ethereum blockchain network, downloads a copy of the chain, and participates in validating transactions. It is written in Rust and was built with miners, exchanges, and service providers in mind: users who need their node to sync quickly and stay online reliably.

Ethereum is a public blockchain network most known for supporting smart contracts and the Ether cryptocurrency. To use or interact with Ethereum directly, you need a client like this one running on a server or computer. OpenEthereum connects to the network, synchronizes the full transaction history, and exposes APIs your own applications can call.

The client syncs using a mode called Warp Sync, which the README says can get a node up to date in hours rather than days. Once running, it serves a JSON-RPC HTTP interface on port 8545 and a WebSocket interface on port 8546, both of which are the standard ways other software talks to an Ethereum node. The codebase is structured as a collection of separate packages covering the virtual machine, account management, key storage, networking, light client support, and several other functions.

Building from source requires a recent stable version of Rust and a handful of system tools like clang and cmake. The README includes instructions for Linux, macOS, and Windows. The project can also be run as a system service on Linux. Documentation is generated from the source code using standard Rust tooling.

The project is licensed under GPLv3 and was community-maintained after originally being developed by Parity Technologies. The wiki linked in the README contains configuration details and guides.