CS-5833-Eth-Software-Lending-Project

Authors: Nima Najafian & Noah Pursell

Overview

This project is a decentralized software lending platform built as part of CS-5833. It demonstrates how Ethereum smart contracts, Dockerized development environments, and client-server interactions can be used to manage software licensing in a permissionless, programmable way.

The platform includes:

• A smart-contract system for renting and purchasing software (games)
• A Dockerized client interface for interacting with the platform
• Development tooling for rapid iteration on both client and smart-contract layers

📄 Read the full project report for a detailed explanation of the architecture, design decisions, and implementation.

Watch the Demo Video

Deployment

Update the .env file to match your setup.

Smart-Contracts Deployment

1. Install and start Docker:

   • Docker Desktop for Windows and Mac
   • docker package for Linux distributions

2. To build and start the production container (from the top directory):

• On Linux or Mac (Unix systems):

  ./scripts/unix/deploy-smart-contracts.sh

• On Windows (Command Prompt):

  scripts\windows\deploy-smart-contracts.bat

This will:

• Build the Docker image if it has not been built yet
• Deploy one container to run the HardHat ETH Network
• Deploy a second container that uses the HardHat Ignition Framework to deploy the GameRental smart-contract

Client Deployment

1. Install and start Docker:

   • Docker Desktop for Windows and Mac
   • docker package for Linux distributions

2. To build and start the production container (from the top directory):

   • On Linux or Mac (Unix systems):

     ./scripts/unix/dev-client.sh

   • On Windows (Command Prompt):

     scripts\windows\dev-client.bat

3. Run the client with python game_launcher.py.

Development

This project uses Docker to provide a consistent Python development environment.

Setup Instructions

Client

1. Install and start Docker:

   • Docker Desktop for Windows and Mac
   • docker package for Linux distributions

2. To build and start the development container (from the top directory):

• On Linux or Mac (Unix systems):

  ./scripts/unix/dev-client.sh

• On Windows (Command Prompt):

  scripts\windows\dev-client.bat

This will:

• Build the Docker image if it has not been built yet
• Mount your project directory into the container
• Start a bash shell inside the container, ready to run Python commands

Smart-Contracts Development

1. Install and start Docker:

   • Docker Desktop for Windows and Mac
   • docker package for Linux distributions

2. To build and start the development container (from the top directory):

• On Linux or Mac (Unix systems):

  ./scripts/unix/dev-smart-contracts.sh

• On Windows (Command Prompt):

  scripts\windows\dev-smart-contracts.bat

This will:

• Build the Docker image if it has not been built yet
• Mount your project directory into the container
• Start a bash shell inside the container, ready to run npm/npx commands

Notes

• Files edited on the host machine are immediately available inside the container.
• When you exit the container (exit or Ctrl+D), it will automatically clean up.
• To add new Python dependencies, update requirements.txt and rebuild the image.