ArweaveTeam/arweave N.2.9.5-alpha4

Release 2.9.5-alpha4

on GitHub

This is an alpha update and may not be ready for production use. This software was prepared by the Digital History Association, in cooperation from the wider Arweave ecosystem.

This release includes the VDF optimization as well as several bug fixes. It passes all automated tests and has undergone a base level of internal testing, but is not considered production ready. We only recommend upgrading if you wish to use the new VDF optimization or if you believe one of the listed bug fixes will improve your mining experience.

New Binaries

This release includes an updated set of pre-built binaries:

• Ubuntu 20:04, erlang r24 (arweave-2.9.5-alpha4.ubuntu20.r24-x86_64.tar.gz)
• Ubuntu 20:04, erlang r26 (arweave-2.9.5-alpha4.ubuntu20.r26-x86_64.tar.gz)
• Ubuntu 22:04, erlang r24 (arweave-2.9.5-alpha4.ubuntu22.r24-x86_64.tar.gz)
• Ubuntu 22:04, erlang r26 (arweave-2.9.5-alpha4.ubuntu22.r26-x86_64.tar.gz)
• MacOS, erlang r24 (N.2.9.5-alpha4-Darwin-arm64-R24.tar.gz)
• MacOS, erlang r26 (N.2.9.5-alpha4-Darwin-arm64-R26.tar.gz)

The default linux release refers to Ubuntu 22:04, erlang r26

We recommend trying the appropriate "erlang r26" binary first. Internal testing shows it to be more stable and slightly more performant.

The MacOS binaries are intended to be used for VDF Servers. Packing and mining on MacOS is still unsupported.

Optimized VDF

This release includes the optimized VDF algorithm developed by Discord user hihui.

To use this optimized VDF algorithm set the vdf hiopt_m4 config option. By default the node will run with the legacy openssl implementation.

Mining Fixes

This release fixes a number of performance and memory issues that were observed while mining on previous 2.9.5 alpha releases.

Other Fixes and Improvements

• Several fixes to address the issue of nodes occasionally "desyncing" (i.e. appearing to stall and refusing to validate new blocks as they are received)
• Several fixes to improve the Arweave shutdown process
  • Close hanging HTTP connections
  • Prevent new HTTP connections from being created during shutdown
  • Fix a timeout issue
• Add a verify flag to the benchmark-vdf script
  • When running benchmark-vdf you can specify the verify true flag to have the script verify the VDF output against a slower "debug" VDF algorithm.
• Support CMake 4 on MacOS

Full Changelog: N.2.9.5-alpha3...N.2.9.5-alpha4

Community involvement

A huge thank you to all the Mining community members who contributed to this release by identifying and investigating bugs, sharing debug logs and node metrics, and providing guidance on performance tuning!

Discord users (alphabetical order):

• BerryCZ
• bigbang
• BloodHunter
• Butcher_
• doesn't stay up late
• edzo
• Evalcast
• EvM
• hihui
• Iba Shinu
• JamsJun
• JF
• jimmyjoe7768
• lawso2517
• MaSTeRMinD
• Merdi Kim
• Niiiko
• qq87237850
• Qwinn
• RedMOoN
• sk
• smash
• sumimi
• T777
• tashilo
• U genius
• Vidiot