Release N.1.7.0.0
·
1034 commits
to master
since this release
We're very happy to announce the N.1.7.0.0 release of the Arweave node!
N.1.7.0.0 includes a lot of changes since the last release, N.1.6.3.1,
from three months ago. This release enables a hard fork scheduled to
activate at 2019-07-08 UTC. Please make sure to upgrade all your nodes
before the fork happens.
New features
1. RandomX proof-of-work algorithm
RandomX is a PoW algorithm that is optimized for general-purpose
CPUs. RandomX uses random code execution together with several
memory-hard techniques to maximize the efficiency of
general-purpose CPUs and therefore make GPU accelerated miners
and ASIC based miners less likely to be advantageous.
The switch is a hard fork and will be effective from block
height 235200 which will happen already around 2019-07-08 UTC.
Please test and upgrade your miners well in advance before the
fork happens.
The mining benchmark is updated with a new argument for choosing
RandomX hashing or the previous SHA-384 hashing. E.g.
`./arweave-server benchmark randomx max_miners 4`. A bug was
also fixed which halved all the performance numbers.
More information available in commit 5148a682
(https://github.com/ArweaveTeam/arweave/commit/5148a6826db98c49c59ef3eaff17f2c657851939).
2. Two-way integration with IPFS
Arweave is launching an IPFS incentivisation layer, providing
permanent storage for the IPFS network. Read more about it here:
https://medium.com/@arweave/arweave-ipfs-persistence-for-the-interplanetary-file-system-9f12981c36c3
Uploading Arweave transactions to IPFS
All Arweave transactions with the tag "IPFS-Add" will be
uploaded and pinned to your local IPFS node, if this feature
is enabled. This will help you make your transactions
available on IPFS with minimal effort. See
doc/ar-ipfs-howto.md
(https://github.com/ArweaveTeam/arweave/blob/N.1.7.0.0/doc/ar-ipfs-howto.md)
for how to enable this.
Import IPFS objects to Arweave
New API endpoints are available where IPFS CIDs can be posted.
The Arweave node then downloads the object from IPFS and
uploads it to Arweave using your wallet. This makes IPFS
objects permanently stored. See doc/ipfs-ar-daemon.md
(https://github.com/ArweaveTeam/arweave/blob/N.1.7.0.0/doc/ipfs-ar-daemon.md)
for how to enable and use this feature.
We have been running this IPFS integration for quite some time
but it's still in the early stage, especially on the
documentation side which is far from finished. We're happy to
help you with the IPFS integration in the mining channel on our
Discord server (see below).
3. Content policy improvements
The content policy feature (see the `content_policy` and
`transaction_blacklist` startup arguments) is improved. Content
denied by your policy will not be stored on your node.
See content_policy_docs.md
(https://github.com/ArweaveTeam/arweave/blob/N.1.7.0.0/content_policy_docs.md)
4. Custom data directory
There is a new startup argument called `data_dir` which gives
the possibility to store the data (blocks, transactions and
metadata) in any other directory instead of having it the
application directory.
5. Config file
All startup arguments can be put in a JSON based config file and
be loaded with the new startup argument `config_file`.
E.g. `arweave-server config_file my-config-file.json`
6. Export block and transaction metadata
Metadata for all blocks and transactions can be exported to CSV
files. See the `app_block_tx_export` module
(src/apps/app_block_tx_export.erl
(https://github.com/ArweaveTeam/arweave/blob/N.1.7.0.0/src/apps/app_block_tx_export.erl)).
Reliability and operations improvements
1. Cowboy
The HTTP server Elli is replaced with Cowboy.
2. Reduced memory consumption
Several improvements are made to reduce the memory consumption
and keep it more even and less 'spiky'.
3. Mixed improvements to logging, reduced disk operations, tweaked
timeouts, overall fault-tolerance.
Bug fixes
1. Polling mode stalls when a certain block doesn't exist on disk.
2. The price endpoint is not pessimistic regarding future price,
resulting in transactions becoming invalid before they are mined
(due to the price increasing).
Upgrade instructions
Please make sure to upgrade all of your nodes well in advance
before the fork happens on 2019-07-08, but test upgrading only one
node to begin with.
1. Shut down arweave-server. To make sure the shutdown was
successful, run `ps aux | grep beam | grep -v grep`. The output
should be empty.
2. Run `git fetch --all --tags && git checkout N.1.7.0.0 && git
reset --hard N.1.7.0.0`
3. Start arweave-server again with the same arguments as before.
For more details on how to run the node, please see our mining
guide - https://docs.arweave.org/info/mining/mining-guide.
Pay attention to the recommended list of trusted peers (the `peer`
startup argument). The list has been updated in the mining guide
since the previous release. Only add peers you trust as this
argument.
If you get GCC compile errors, make sure you’re using GCC version 7
or later.
The best way to get support for upgrading and running this release is
in the "mining" channel on our "Arweave Dev Talk" Discord server
(https://discord.gg/RZN9ab). You can also email to team@arweave.org.