GRC forking issues and a new release forthcoming
I have seen here and on Reddit increasing anxiety and questions regarding a release which will fully stabilize the network and allow the exchanges to reopen.
Release 3.7.7.0 in combination with the new official snapshot has helped the network a lot, but there remain a few issues that need to be resolved before the exchange wallets can be taken out of maintenance mode.
The developers are very busy readying a new release which will address all known major issues that were causing forking and getting stuck on syncing.
I and a number of others are busy testing release candidates as I write this. While I can't predict exactly when the new release will be forthcoming, I can tell you we are down to two known issues which relate to a rare crash when syncing from 0 due to a locking problem, and a second issue that results in being stuck at block 1148585, and perhaps a couple of other points in the blockchain on a sync from 0. Both of these issues should not occur if using the snapshot, but since some people sync from zero, the developers want to be very cautious and fix these before the release. My guess based on the testing and code fixes is that the new release will be very soon... in a matter of a few days at most.
Patience is key here. Your funds are safe as long as you are not disturbing your wallet. As always, maintain backups of your wallet, and ensure you backup your wallet before doing any upgrade.
Some people have reported apparent loss of GRC after upgrading and applying the snapshot. (This happened to me too.) The solution is to allow the wallet to sync up, and then run a repairwallet and your GRC will be restored.
For anyone wondering: the repairwallet command is run from the debug window located in Help>>Debug Window>>Console on windows, and gridcoinresearchd repairwallet at the Linux commandline.
It seems to me that forking has improved significantly in the past week or so, and difficulty has mostly hovered around realistic numbers -- often greater than 1.00!
Thanks for the great work.
@dcj
It has indeed. There are still some corner cases, and the developers are being on the cautious side before giving the go ahead to the exchanges. I think the call is right. Better to be on the safe side.
thanks for the goodwork devs!
Just wondering what is needed to help with a testnet wallet or node? How to do?
I am able to install a second Wallet on an other computer with Windows 7 if it helps. However BOINC is running on this computer as well.
This is very good to hear. As a relative newbie to gridcoin, I was starting to get worried that maybe I hooked up with the wrong coin.
I've only hung around this long by telling myself that my power consumption is going to help the world...though I was having a bit of an ethical dilemma recently when I considered that maybe my electrical usage from a coal plant was hurting more than my contributions through Boinc was helping.
It's a hard calculation to make. I wonder if that calculation has been done anywhere....and now I'm back to searching Google for answers. sigh
It is nice to hear the the development is ongoing, and that you guys are testing out some new fixes.
I agree with @bigfarns as I also think this will keep investors from chosing Gridcoin for investment.
Keep up the good work.