This release main highlight is the new consensus engine for the QBFT algorithm. It

• is interoperable with Hyperleger Besu, enabling hybrid GoQuorum <> Besu networks running on a Byzantian Fault-Tolerant consensus
• improves the stability of BFT networks (in particular it addresses a liveness issue of the IBFT implementation)

QBFT is available for

• new networks
• existing IBFT networks through a hard fork migration (as an ALPHA feature)

Enhancements

• 🎉 [QBFT] Add QBFT consensus #1209
• Add raftlogdir commandline option #1110
• Add revert reason to transaction receipt #1215
• [Geth-Upgrade] Go-Ethereum release from v1.9.21 to v1.9.24 #1211, #1214, #1217, #1219
• Add cache on private state trie #1225
• Update receipts encoding to faciliate usage of multiple receipts format #1227

Fixes

• [MPS] fix merge/rebase issues #1197
• Add logging to catch scenario when processing of transactions is aborted due to New Head event #1220
• [QBFT] Check if sb.core is nil before processing NewBlockMsg #1229
• [QBFT] Asynchronously call startNewRound() when transitioning from IBFT to QBFT #1232

Other

• [Docker] Update docker tagging to the following convention: latest is the latest stable release (ie. v21.4.1 on this case) and develop is the latest snapshot release from the current development version (ie. created from master branch) #1171
• [CI/CD] Add acceptance tests on PR and master #1230
• [CI/CD] Add a scheduled job in order to check geth upgrades everyday #1205

Binaries