I’d like to suggest that some basic requirements for successfully building zcash be outlined. For example: ideal Linux distribution, AMD or Intel cpu, additional software to install before attempting to follow the steps in the Public Alpha Guide (I had to research how to install git then having almost gotten through the compilation process it crapped out with some error about ‘automake’).
Additionally, would there be any harm in having a pre-compiled binary?
Well, I use Ubuntu. I think either AMD or Intel CPU is fine. For the current version of the software you need at least 8 GiB of RAM, and I’m not sure if only 8 GiB of RAM is enough! You should install git.
Okay, now given all of those answers, is that good enough to get you started?
Having a pre-compiled binary is something we intend to do in the near future.
Yes, that certainly helps. One of the issues I was having was probably not quite enough memory.
So… I got a new laptop with an i5 cpu and 16GB of memory and I just installed the 64bit Ubuntu 15.10 on it. I used apt-get to install git and automake and my guess is zcashd took about 20 to 30 minutes to build (that is, after downloading the proving and verifying keys).
Next annoying hurdle - I have no idea about irc. But, if someone here would be kind enough to send some testnet coins to my newly minted zcash address, I’d be very grateful.
My address is: mmjkGdaJfdJHqk9WZsvK5MGsn1XdksGUHL
For those who are new to bitcoind / zerocoind, this page describes their commands - Original Bitcoin client/API calls list - Bitcoin Wiki