Failure to create Genesis Block (Hyperledger fabric) - docker

Question

This is my first post on Stackoverflow. Please bear with me...
I am new to basically everything around hyperledger-fabric.
While trying to follow the "Writing Your First Application Tutorial" i am unable to generate the genesis block.
I am running:
windows 10
Docker version 18.03.0-ce, build 0520e24302
docker-compose version 1.20.1, build 5d8c71b2
npm 6.1.2
node.js v12.1
python 2.7
I used the curl commands given in the instructions.
When i run
./startFabric.sh javascript
at first everything is going ok. I am getting some warnings but starting the Channel seems to work fine.
In the next few lines however i am getting an error.
Generate CCP files for Org1 and Org2
/c/Users/Jonathan/Hyperledger_Fabric/fabric-samples/bin/configtxgen
Generating Orderer Genesis block
CONSENSUS_TYPE=solo
+ '[' solo == solo ']'
+ configtxgen -profile TwoOrgsOrdererGenesis -channelID byfn-sys-channel -outputBlock ./channel-artifacts/genesis.block
2019-11-25 10:35:01.676 CET [common.tools.configtxgen] main -> INFO 001 Loading configuration
2019-11-25 10:35:01.677 CET [common.tools.configtxgen.localconfig] Load -> PANI 002 Error reading configuration: Unsupported Config Type ""
2019-11-25 10:35:01.679 CET [common.tools.configtxgen] func1 -> PANI 003 Error reading configuration: Unsupported Config Type ""
panic: Error reading configuration: Unsupported Config Type "" [recovered]
panic: Error reading configuration: Unsupported Config Type ""
It seems that the configuration is missing/not the right "type".
I googled my error and came up with people having similar/the same issue but i havent been able to solve my issue by following the advice they were given (hence why i am here).
Similar posts i found:
https://jira.hyperledger.org/browse/FAB-3467
Error cryptogen tool in Hyperledger Fabric
The people responding to the posts above generally seem to think its an issue regarding the path to the config file which apparently can be fixed with
FABRIC_CFG_PATH=$PWD
But that hasnt worked for me.
Full Console Output:
https://pastebin.com/CHxjZ1Uq

Answer 1

Look at the warning at the start: you are missing some prerequisites.
First, use the generate script to generate the crypto-config and artifacts folder.
Once you got your certificates you can start fabric.
You should have a generte.sh script or something like that.
Essentially it runs the certificate generation for your network using cryptogen.
The code is something like this:
which cryptogen
if [ "$?" -ne 0 ]; then
echo "cryptogen tool not found. exiting"
exit 1
fi
if [ -d "crypto-config" ]; then
rm -Rf crypto-config
fi
set -x
cryptogen generate --config=./crypto-config.yaml
Once you generated the certificates, you can now generate the genesis block with something like:
which configtxgen
if [ -d "config" ]; then
rm -Rf config
fi
mkdir config
configtxgen -profile OneOrgOrdererGenesis -outputBlock ./config/genesis.block
configtxgen -profile OneOrgChannel -outputCreateChannelTx ./config/channel.tx -channelID $CHANNEL_NAME
configtxgen -profile OneOrgChannel -outputAnchorPeersUpdate ./config/${MSP_NAME}anchors.tx -channelID $CHANNEL_NAME -asOrg $MSP_NAME
Obviously replacing with your names and variables.