What's the purpose of `nodes.local start` in the canton initialization scripts?

Questions
1

In the canton examples, I notice the bootstrap files in some examples contain explicit instructions to start nodes, e.g. examples/01-simple-topology/simple-ping.canton contains

nodes.local start

However, the bootstrap files for the participant nodes in examples/03-advanced-configuration/participant-init.canton does not contain a start instruction.

So I wonder, what’s the purpose of the nodes.local start instruction in the bootstrap file?

Thanks,
mesch.

2

Hi @mesch,

In the 01-simple-topology example every node is configured to be run with the same process, meaning that all of your nodes are local. Using the node reference you execute the start command for each node (each node type has a start command). So basically it is a shorthand to run the instances configured.

For the 03-advanced-configuration example, README.md says this about the domain:

The domain can be started without any script, as it self-initialises by default, waiting for incoming connections

Since there are no separate configuration for any other nodes than the participants and those only require the content of the script (connection to and then activation on a domain) you do not need to issue a separate start command.

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